| Session Details | |
| Section | PS - Planetary Sciences |
| Session Title | Outer Planets And Their Exoplanetary Analogs |
| Main Convener | Dr. Wing-Huen Ip (National Central University, Taiwan) |
| Co-convener(s) | Prof. Sushil Atreya (University of Michigan, United States) Dr. Anil Bhardwaj (VSSC, ISRO, India) Prof. Takehiko Satoh (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japan) Dr. Norbert Krupp (Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany) |
| Session Description | The joint NASA-ESA-ASI Cassini Huygens mission that will culminate in a Grand Finale mission in 2016- 2017. Before then, the year of 2015 also marks the closest ever approach to the gas plume of Enceladus by the Cassini spacecraft, and the exciting flyby observations of Pluto by the New Horizons spacecraft. Looking to the future, the NASA’s JUNO spacecraft is on its way to Jupiter, preparations for ESA’s Ganymede orbiter mission JUICE are on track for launch in 2025, NASA’s Europa Multiple Flyby mission is in implementation phase, and plans are being developed for a future Uranus Orbiter with Probe mission. Following in the footsteps of successful lunar missions of Japan, China and India, and then the wonderful Indian Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) project, planetary scientists in Asia may soon join forces with their European and American colleagues in exploring the outer solar system. At the same time, exoplanet observations are beginning to yield composition and structure data of extrasolar giant planets, which are providing new insights into the origin and evolution of solar systems.Thus it is timely to organize an AOGS session on outer planets to review significant scientific achievements in the areas of outer planetary and satellite atmospheres, magnetospheres, icy moons and the rings, including results on the Saturn system obtained by Cassini-Huygens, prior and anticipated observations of other outer planets and moons, and modeling of planetary phenomena. Because of tremendous advances made in the study of extrasolar giant planets, we solicit also abstracts on related topics – with a view to promote interdisciplinary dialogs between planetary scientists and astrophysicists, in the international setting of the 13th annual meeting of AOGS in Beijing. |