Scientific Rationale
The Gaia-ESO Survey (GES) is currently half way to achieve its goal to collect spectra for 100 000 stars over a period of five years. The survey is providing an homogeneous overview of the distributions of kinematics and elemental abundances for the major components of the Milky Way, namely the bulge, the thick and the thin discs and the halo. In addition to the field component, a very significant sample of open star clusters, covering all accessible cluster ages and stellar masses, as well as a handful of globular clusters are being observed.

This Gaia-ESO Survey Second Science Meeting is perfectly timed to present and discuss new results arising from the second internal data release. Given the already significant data volume and the current more mature stage of the GES data analysis, we expect a variety of scientifically interesting results on a wide range of topics proposed within the Survey:

• Local Field Dwarfs (UVES parallels)
• Bulge and Inner Galaxy
• Thick Disc
• Halo
• Thin Disc Kinematics
• Calibrations and Standards
• Cluster Membership
• Cluster Kinematics
• Cluster Abundances
• Stellar Evolution
• Cluster-Field Analyses
• Technical and Methods
• Any other project

By the time of the meeting, several studies based on the first data release will be already published and many based on the second data release will be ready to verify previous work and reveal new findings on the different subjects.

Like in the first science meeting, in addition to the interest of the new science results, this conference will also allow some discussion on the survey progress, data analysis methods, challenges and synergies with other surveys (e.g. SkyMapper), etc. This will be an ideal occasion for the different groups within the survey to meet and discuss their progress, difficulties and ways forward and ensure a better and better progress of the Survey.

Click the image to download the conference poster.

Scientific Organizing Committee
Carlos Allende Prieto
Ronny Blomme
Sofia Feltzing
Karin Lind
Alejandra Recio-Blanco
Guisi Micela (co-Chair)
Germano Sacco
Rodolfo Smiljanic
Sérgio Sousa (co-Chair)

Local Organizing Committee
Vardan Adibekyan (co-Chair)
Isa Brandão
Elisa Delgado-Mena (co-Chair)
Marco Montalto
Manuel Monteiro
Paulo Peixoto
Elsa Silva
Sérgio Sousa