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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 March 2016
This report will review space observations of stars and the interstellar medium and what we can expect to learn from instruments planned for the near future. Older observations are described in more detail by Underhill and Morton (1967), and Houziaux and Butler (1970). The interpretation of these measurements depends heavily on the results of theoretical and experimental atomic physics. Therefore the last section will describe some of the areas where new atomic data are essential for our understanding of space observations.
Rockets or satellites are necessary to detect all wavelengths between 0.1 and 3000 Å except for two bands from 2000 to 2200 Å and from 2700 to 3000 Å accessible at balloon altitudes. However, for most sources outside the solar system the bound-free absorption of atomic hydrogen will obliterate all wavelengths between 100 and 912 Å. For example, unit optical depth at 304 Å occurs at 12 parsecs even if the interstellar hydrogen density is as low as 0.1 atom cm-3.