Related papers: Rusty old stars: a source of the missing interstel…
Two UV brights stars in globular clusters, ROA 5701 (omega Cen) and Barnard 29 (M 13) are analysed from high-resolution UV and optical spectra. The main aim is the measurement of iron abundances from UV spectra obtained with the HST-GHRS.…
The first stars are predicted to have formed within 200 million years after the Big Bang, initiating the cosmic dawn. A true first star has not yet been discovered, although stars with tiny amounts of elements heavier than helium ('metals')…
We present new interstellar dust models which have been derived by simultaneously fitting the far-ultraviolet to near-infrared extinction, the diffuse infrared (IR) emission and, unlike previous models, the elemental abundance constraints…
The stellar initial mass function (IMF), along with the star formation rate, is one of the fundamental properties that any theory of star formation must explain. An interesting feature of the IMF is that it appears to be remarkably…
Interstellar dust links the formation of the first stars to the rocky planet we inhabit by playing a pivotal role in the cooling and fragmentation of molecular clouds, and catalyzing the formation of water and organic molecules. Despite its…
Models of the chemical evolution of the interstellar medium, galaxies, and the Universe rely on our understanding of the amounts and chemical composition of the material returned by stars and supernovae. Stellar yields are obtained from…
We report abundances of elements from $_{26}$Fe to $_{40}$Zr in the cosmic radiation measured by the SuperTIGER (Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) instrument during 55 days of exposure on a long-duration balloon flight over Antarctica.…
AGB stars are, together with supernovae, the main contributors of stellar dust to the interstellar medium (ISM). Dust grains formed by AGB stars are thought to be large. However, as dust nucleation and growth within their outflows are still…
This article gives an overview of the constitution, physical conditions and observables of dust in the interstellar medium of nearby galaxies. We first review the macroscopic, spatial distribution of dust in these objects, and its…
Results from IRAS and recent X-ray and optical surveys are reviewed to discuss the properties and nature of the interstellar medium in elliptical galaxies. As to the dust component, there is a strong contrast with the situation among spiral…
While we observe a large amount of cold interstellar gas and dust in a subset of the early-type galaxy (ETG) population, the source of this material remains unclear. The two main, competing scenarios are external accretion of lower mass,…
The goal of this study is to reconstruct the evolution and the dust formation processes during the final AGB phases of a sample of carbon-rich, post-AGB Galactic stars, with particular attention to the determination of the past mass-loss…
We report the results of a coherent study of three chemically anomalous metal-poor ([Fe/H] ~ -2) stars. These objects exhibit unusually low abundances of Mg, Si, Ca (alpha-elements) and Sr, Y, and Ba (neutron-capture elements). Our analyses…
A new XMM observation of the outer regions of the galaxy group NGC 5044 indicates hot gas iron abundances of only ~0.15 solar between r=0.2 - 0.4 r_vir. While the total baryon mass within the virial radius may be close to the cosmic mean…
The O-rich Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars experience strong mass loss with efficient dust condensation and they are major sources of dust in the interstellar medium. Alumina dust (Al$_2$O$_3$) is an important dust component in O-rich…
We present $\gtrsim 15,000$ metal-rich (${\rm [Fe/H]}>-0.2$dex) A and F stars whose surface abundances deviate strongly from Solar abundance ratios and cannot plausibly reflect their birth material composition. These stars are identified by…
We have derived abundances of O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Fe, Ni and Ba for 43 metal-poor field stars in the solar neighbourhood with iron abundances [Fe/H] ranging from -0.4 to -3.0. Total abundance errors are estimated to about…
The abundance of beryllium in the oldest, most metal-poor stars acts as a probe of early star formation and Galactic chemical evolution. We have analyzed high-resolution, high signal-to-noise Keck/HIRES spectra of 24 stars with [Fe/H] from…
This review surveys the observed properties of interstellar dust grains: the wavelength-dependent extinction of starlight, including absorption features, from UV to IR; optical luminescence; IR emission; microwave emission; optical, UV, and…
We present ISOCAM 7 micron and 15 micron observations of 12 nearby white dwarfs, 6 of which have been found to have metals such as Ca, Mg and Fe in their photospheres. Our purpose was to search for an excess of infrared emission above the…