Welcome to the web site for Microstructures in the Interstellar Medium, a meeting being held in honor of Bob O'Dell's 70th birthday.

The meeting is divided into two parts, emphasizing the formation and perseverance of small-scale structure. The first, end points of stellar evolution, will focus on the morphologies of H II regions and planetary nebulae and our understanding of the forces that causes structure to form. The construction of the Hubble Space Telescope led to the first direct observations of small structures in many of these nebulae. Bob's pioneering investigations of the Orion and the Helix Nebulae led to fundamental discoveries including Orion's proplyds and the existence of tiny "knots" in the Helix. The second half of the meeting concerns the diffuse ISM and will address similar questions but on a larger scale.

Could the small structures seen in the ISM be related to small structures observed in planetary nebulae and H II regions? What forces govern the formation and perseverance of small features? The meeting will be unique in bringing together experts from these different fields to discuss a common phenomenon.

The meeting is being held near Yerkes Observatory, which Bob directed, all day Sunday and Monday April 22 and 23, and the first half of Tuesday April 24. We will spend Sunday evening at Yerkes and observe with its historic refractor if weather permits. The conference banquet is Monday night and Bob will tell us about The Creation of the Hubble Space Telescope.

A copy of the program is posted at the left, along with contact and hotel information. Please sign up at the registration page to get onto our emailing list, and so that we have an idea of the meeting's size.