ExoComets: Understanding the Composition of Planetary Building Blocks

Aim and description

This workshop sets out to determine what techniques and approaches are the most expedient at determining exocomet composition and what future work would most benefit our understanding of how exocomets affects exoplanet atmospheres and the emergence of life throughout the Universe.

Young stellar systems, some of them many light years away, resemble the early Solar System by showing the hallmarks of being surrounded by a vast number of comets that we are now able to detect. These comets orbiting other stars, referred to as exocomets, give us the important foundation for which to make a comparison with the comets in our Solar System and allow us put their composition in perspective. Exocomets also provide us with information valuable for understanding the composition of exoplanet atmospheres and may help us understand the early chemistry of Earth. Despite the great opportunity for exocometary scientists, the Solar System comet community, the exoplanet atmosphere researchers and astrobiologists to learn from each other and exchange experiences and techniques, there has been surprisingly little collaboration between these communities. This Lorentz workshop will, for the first time, bring experts from each of these communities together in the same room to share ideas and exchange knowledge which will undoubtedly foster new insights and develop fresh approaches to a very timely topic.