Related papers: Stardust findings. Implications for panspermia
Exocomets are small bodies releasing gas and dust which orbit stars other than the Sun. Their existence was first inferred from the detection of variable absorption features in stellar spectra in the late 1980s using spectroscopy. More…
We present multicolor photometry of bright star cluster candidates in the nearby starburst galaxies NGC 3077 and NGC 5253, observed with the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 in both broadband (F300W, F547M and F814W)…
We report identification of the first unambiguous example of what appears to be a new class of first-ascent giant stars that are actively accreting gas and dust and that are surrounded by substantial dusty disks. These old stars, who are…
Observations of quasar absorption systems relevant for studies of star formation at redshift 2 </= z </= 4 are briefly reviewed. Emphasis is given on the role played by dust in our understanding of the star formation history of galaxies…
One of the most prominent features of galaxy clusters is the presence of a dominant population of massive ellipticals in their cores. Stellar archaeology suggests that these gigantic beasts assembled most of their stars in the early…
Gravitational interactions in rich clusters can strip material from the outer parts of galaxies or even completely disrupt entire systems, giving rise to large scale, low surface brightness ghostly features stretching across intergalactic…
Although dust is widely found in astrophysics, forming dust is surprisingly difficult. The proper combination of low temperature (<2000 K) and high density is mainly found in the winds of late-type giant and supergiant stars which, as a…
Dust grains play a central role in the physics and chemistry of cosmic environments. They influence the optical and thermal properties of the medium due to their interaction with stellar radiation; provide surfaces for the chemical…
A significant fraction of binary neutron star mergers occur in star-forming galaxies where the UV-optical and soft X-ray afterglow emission from the relativistic jet may be absorbed by dust and re-emitted at longer wavelengths. We show…
We investigate spatial distributions of specific dust components in the circumstellar shells of a proto-planetary nebula candidate, HD 179821, and a planetary nebula, BD$+30^{\circ}$3639, by means of spectral imaging. With high-resolution…
Models for the evolution of dust are used to show that the observed trend of the abundance of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with metallicity is the result of the delayed injection of carbon dust that formed in low mass asymptotic…
The most successful model of comet dust presents comet particles as aggregates of submicron grains. It qualitatively explains the spectral and angular change in the comet brightness and polarization and is consistent with the thermal…
The first part of this paper deals with the impact of nonsolar and - for late-type, dwarf, and high redshift galaxies - generally subsolar abundances on the interpretation of observational data for starburst galaxies. It points out the…
Cassiopeia A, one of the most intriguing galactic supernova remnants, has been a target of many observational efforts including most recent observations by ALMA, Hubble, Herschel, Spitzer, NuSTAR, Integral, and other observatories. We use…
Before Rosetta, the space missions Giotto and Stardust shaped our view on cometary dust, supported by plentiful data from Earth based observations and interplanetary dust particles collected in the Earth's atmosphere. The Rosetta mission at…
Stars form with gaseous and dusty circumstellar envelopes, which rapidly settle into disks that eventually give rise to planetary systems. Understanding the process by which these disks evolve is paramount in developing an accurate theory…
In the current era of high-z galaxy discovery with JWST and ALMA, our ability to study the stellar populations and ISM conditions in a diverse range of galaxies at Cosmic Dawn has rapidly improved. At the same time, the need to understand…
The interplanetary space probe Cassini/Huygens reached Saturn in July 2004 after seven years of cruise phase. The Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) measures the interplanetary, interstellar and planetary dust in our solar system since 1999 and…
On June 30th, 1908, there was a massive explosion over Tunguska, in Central Siberia. A number of scientists have proposed that this Tunguska Phenomenon was caused due to the tangential passage of an astral body that grazed the Earths'…
When viewed from Earth, most of what we observe of a comet is dust. The influence of solar radiation pressure on the trajectories of dust particles depends on their cross-section to mass ratio. Hence solar radiation pressure acts like a…