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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 September 2012
The X-ray band provides a very powerful and unique way to explore the hot phase of the ISM in external galaxies. This phase has been known to exist in galaxies since the early Einstein observations, but only with recent detailed observations of objects in the local universe are we beginning to study it in detail and appreciate the importance of the hot ISM as a vehicle of chemical enrichment in different astrophysical environments. This knowledge can then be used to understand the properties of galaxies at the epoch of formation and their subsequent evolution, both in the field and in clusters.