Research on the Interstellar Medium and Star Formation in the Galaxy: An Indian Perspective
Abstract
Although the star formation process has been studied for decades, many important aspects of the physics involved remain unsolved. Recent advancement of instrumentation in the infrared, far-infrared and sub-millimetre wavelength regimes have contributed to a significantly improved understanding of processes in the interstellar medium (ISM) leading to star formation. The future of research on the ISM and star formation looks exciting with instruments like the JWST, ALMA, etc., already contributing to the topic by gathering high-resolution high-sensitivity data and with several larger ground- and space-bound facilities either being planned or constructed. India has a sizable number of astronomers engaged in research on topics related to the ISM and star formation. In this white paper invited by the Astronomical Society of India to prepare a vision document for Indian astronomy, we review the Indian contributions to the global understanding of the star formation process and suggest areas that require focused efforts both in creating observing facilities and in theoretical front in India, in order to improve the impact of our research in the coming decades.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2501.04290,
title = {Research on the Interstellar Medium and Star Formation in the Galaxy: An Indian Perspective},
author = {Bhaswati Mookerjea and Maheswar G. and Kinsuk Acharyya and Tapas Baug and Prasun Datta and Jessy Jose and D. K. Ojha and Jagadheep D. Pandian and Nirupam Roy and Manash Samal and Saurabh Sharma and Archana Soam and Sarita Vig and Ankan Das and Lokesh Dewangan and Somnath Dutta and C. Eswariah and Liton Majumdar and Kshitiz Kumar Mallick and Soumen Mondal and Joe P. Ninan and Neelam Panwar and Amit Pathak and Shantanu Rastogi and Dipen Sahu and Anandmayee Tej and Veena V. S},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.04290},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in The Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy Special Issue: Indian Astronomy in the Global Context: A compendium of white papers submitted towards the Astronomical Society of India Vision Document (2024)