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Interstellar Matter with Very Large Telescopes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

J. Lequeux*
Affiliation:
Observatoire de Marseille, F 13248 Marseille Cedex 4

Extract

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Interstellar matter is certainly one of the fields where a very large telescope (VLT) will prove to be most fruitful. This includes (somewhat paradoxically, but this will be explained later) the study of extended emissions. I will now examine in turn the different domains of interest for a VLT.

I. Neutral diffuse matter

Optical and near IR observations will mainly contribute to this domain through high-resolution spectroscopy of interstellar absorption lines in the spectra of stars. These lines are resonant lines of atoms (NaI, KI, etc.) or ions (CaII, TiII, etc.) as well as of some molecules (CH+, CH, CN, CS+, C2 in the near IR). Clearly this kind of study is always photon - limited; a VLT will collect more photons than present telescopes, thus increase the possibilities considerably.

Type
V. Astronomical Programs For A Very Large Telescope
Copyright
Copyright © ESO 1984

References

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