Galactic and Extragalactic Infrared Spectroscopy: Proceedings of the XVIth ESLAB Symposium, held in Toledo, Spain, December 6–8, 1982 (Astrophysics and Space Science Library, 108)

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. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Welcome Address....Pages 1-1 Front Matter....Pages 3-3 Absorption and Emission Characteristics of Interstellar Dust....Pages 5-35 Observed Spectral Features of Dust....Pages 37-57 Formation of Molecules on Dust....Pages 59-67 Gas Phase Chemistry in the Interstellar Medium....Pages 69-82 Observational Constraints on Interstellar Chemistry....Pages 83-86 Front Matter....Pages 87-87 Atomic and Ionic Emission Processes....Pages 89-101 Infrared Spectroscopy of Interstellar Shocks....Pages 103-131 Infrared Hydrogen Emission Lines from H II Regions and ‘Protostars’....Pages 133-144 The Significance of Far-Infrared Spectra of the Interstellar Medium....Pages 145-166 Astrophysical Interpretation of Molecular Spectra....Pages 167-176 Excitation Conditions in Molecular Clouds....Pages 177-191 Front Matter....Pages 193-193 Far-Infrared Spectroscopy of Neutral Interstellar Clouds....Pages 195-219 Molecular Astronomy at Submillimeter Wavelengths....Pages 221-231 Submillimeter Observations of Molecules and the Structure of Giant Molecular Clouds....Pages 233-250 Energetic Outflows, Winds and Jets around Young Stars....Pages 251-268 Near-IR Spectroscopy of H 2 and CO in Molecular Clouds....Pages 269-279 Spectroscopy of HII Regions in the 1–15 μm Region....Pages 281-287 Far-Infrared Spectroscopy of HII Regions....Pages 289-307 Infrared Spectroscopy of Late Type Stars....Pages 309-330 Front Matter....Pages 193-193 Infrared Spectroscopy of Evolved Objects....Pages 331-348 Front Matter....Pages 349-349 The Galactic Center....Pages 351-368 Ground-Based Extragalactic Infrared Spectroscopy and Related Studies....Pages 369-422 A Comparison of the FIR Line and Continuum Emission from External Galaxies with the Emission from our Galaxy....Pages 423-441 Molecular Gas Distribution in Spiral Galaxies....Pages 443-455 Back Matter....Pages 457-476 Proceedings of the XVIth ESLAB Symposium, held in Toledo, Spain, December 6-8, 1982