In August 2004 a five-day meeting on "The Environments of Galaxies" was held at Chania on the beautiful island of Crete in the Mediterranean. Chania is an ancient city on the northern coast of Crete. Meeting dates were Monday, August 9 through Friday, August 13, 2004, inclusive.

Chania harbour and lighthouse

Conference site

Scientific Motivation

Galaxies are found in a wide range of environments, from the field, through groups, to rich clusters. These environments, ranging in scale from kpc to Mpc, can have significant effects on galaxy properties such as morphology and the stellar, gas and dark matter contents. Various astrophysical processes occur in the different environments, i.e. interactions/mergers, 'harassment', accretion of companion galaxies, infall of gas, ram pressure stripping, galaxy 'strangulation'. Galaxies in turn have important 'feedback' effects on their environment via outflows of mass, energy and enriched material. The purpose of this conference is to bring together observers and theorists in this exciting research area.

Invited Speakers

• Content and structure of galaxy halos - R. Ibata (Strasbourg)
• Outflows and recycling - J. Bland-Hawthorn (AAO)
• Cooling, pre-heating and feedback - F. Pearce (Nottingham)
• ICM/IGM properties - T. Ponman (Birmingham)
• Galaxy properties in different environments - observational - M. Balogh (Durham)
• Galaxy properties in different environments - theoretical - R. Somerville (STScI)
• Galaxy transformation processes - B. Moore (Zurich)
• Evolution of groups and clusters - R. Bower (Durham)

Organisers

The combined LOC/SOC of the meeting were Richard Bower (Durham), Jean Brodie (Lick), Warrick Couch (UNSW), Duncan Forbes (Chair, Swinburne), Antonis Georgakakis (Athens), Virginia Kilborn (Swinburne), Glen Mackie (Swinburne), Ben Moore (Zurich), Frazer Pearce (Nottingham), Trevor Ponman (Birmingham), Rob Proctor (Swinburne), Ann Zabludoff (Arizona), Dennis Zaritsky (Arizona).

Last modified 30 Aug. 2004 - Glen Mackie