Galactic and Extragalactic Infrared Spectroscopy

1. Galactic Sources

   1. Near-IR Spectroscopy of H2 and CO in Molecular Clouds

      • Donald N B Hall

      Pages 269-279

   2. Spectroscopy of HII Regions in the 1–15 μm Region

      • J. H. Lacy

      Pages 281-287

   3. Far-Infrared Spectroscopy of HII Regions

      • R J Emery, M F Kessler

      Pages 289-307

   4. Infrared Spectroscopy of Late Type Stars

      • Stephen T. Ridgway

      Pages 309-330

   5. Infrared Spectroscopy of Evolved Objects

      • David K. Aitken, Patrick F. Roche

      Pages 331-348

2. Galactic Centre and Extragalactic Sources

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 349-349

      PDF

   2. The Galactic Center

      • Ian Gatley

      Pages 351-368

   3. Ground-Based Extragalactic Infrared Spectroscopy and Related Studies

      • Malcolm G. Smith

      Pages 369-422

   4. A Comparison of the FIR Line and Continuum Emission from External Galaxies with the Emission from our Galaxy

      • P. G. Mezger

      Pages 423-441

   5. Molecular Gas Distribution in Spiral Galaxies

      • N. Z. Scoville

      Pages 443-455

3. Back Matter

   Pages 457-476

   PDF

The last major conference on infrared astronomy was the IAU Symposium No. 96 in June 1980. Since then, the discipline has continued to mature and to contribute to all branches of astrophysics. One particular area of growth has been in spectroscopic capabilities at all infrared wavelengths. The purpose of the Symposium in Toledo was to review the scientific questions to be addressed via infrared spectroscopy and to provide, in the proceedings, a useful summary of the field. The sensitivity of infrared spectroscopic observations is still generally limited by detector characteristics or by thermal background radiation. However in recent years improvements in detector technology together with developments in spectroscopic instrumentation have made possible both quite detailed spectroscopy of the brighter members of many classes of galactic sources and also begun to open up some infrared spectroscopy of extragalactic sources. The potential of the field in the next decade or two is clear. The lRAS mission has completed one of the pre-requisites, namely an all-sky photometric survey. Major space missions utilising cryogenic infrared telescopes have been approved in Europe (ISO) and seem likely in the USA (SIRTF); plans for space submillimeter telescopes are firming up. On the ground large telescopes optimized for infrared observations are now in operation at high altitude sites and specialized submillimeter facilities are under construction. The particular advantages of planned, very large telescopes for infrared observations are widely accepted.

• astronomy
• galaxy
• relativistic jet
• spectroscopy
• stars

• Astronomy Division, Space Science Department of ESA, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

  M. F. Kessler, J. P. Phillips

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