Related papers: The nebulae around LBVs: a multiwavelength approac…
The recent progress in high-spatial-resolution techniques, spanning wavelengths from the visual to the radio regime, is leading to new valuable insights into the complex dynamical atmospheres of Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars and their…
[Abridged] We present a new approach to investigate the content and spatial distribution of dust in structurally unresolved star-forming galaxies from the observed dependence of integrated spectral properties on galaxy inclination. We…
Studies of dust scattering properties in astrophysical objects with Milky Way interstellar dust are reviewed. Such objects are reflection nebulae, dark clouds, and the Diffuse Galactic Light (DGL). To ensure their basic quality, studies had…
We have undertaken a near-infrared spectral survey of stars associated with compact mid-IR shells recently revealed by the MIPSGAL (24 micron) and GLIMPSE (8 micron) Spitzer surveys, whose morphologies are typical of circumstellar shells…
The state-of-the-art geometry models of stars/dust suggest that dust attenuation toward nebular regions ($A_{V,gas}$) is always larger than that of stellar regions ($A_{V,star}$). Utilizing the newly released integral field spectroscopic…
The mass-loss process from evolved stars is a key ingredient for our understanding of many fields of astrophysics, including stellar evolution and the chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium via stellar yields. One the main unsolved…
We present a new model of the nebular emission from star-forming galaxies in a wide range of chemical compositions, appropriate to interpret observations of galaxies at all cosmic epochs. The model relies on the combination of…
We have worked out evolutionary synthesis models of the broad-band spectral energy distribution of elliptical galaxies over the whole frequency range from UV to far--IR. Internal extinction and far--IR re--emission by interstellar dust have…
More than half of the dust and heavy element enrichment in galaxies originates from the winds and outflows of evolved, low-to-intermediate mass stars on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB). However, numerous details of the physics of…
This paper - the first of a short series dedicated to the long-stan ding astronomical problem of de-projecting the bi-dimensional apparent morpholog y of a three-dimensional mass of gas - focuses on the density distribution in real…
We present the first results of a project aimed at the combined study of massive stars and their surrounding nebulae by means of a detailed study of Galactic HII regions ionized by only one massive star. With this, we intend to check the…
We present a new model for computing consistently the line and continuum emission from galaxies, based on a combination of recent population synthesis and photoionization codes. We use effective parameters to describe the HII regions and…
Context. Luminous blue variables (LBVs) are rare massive stars with very high luminosity. They are characterized by strong photo-metric and spectroscopic variability related to transient eruptions. The mechanisms at the origin of these…
In a cosmological context dust has been always poorly understood. That is true also for the statistic of GRBs so that we started a program to understand its role both in relation to GRBs and in function of z. This paper presents a composite…
We present and analyse new optical images of the dust envelope surrounding the high mass-loss carbon star IRC+10216. This envelope is seen due to external illumination by galactic light. Intensity profiles and colors of the nebula were…
Given the complex nature of galaxies' interstellar medium (ISM), multi-wavelength data are required to probe the interplay among gas, dust, and stellar populations. Spiral galaxies are ideal laboratories for such a goal as they are rich in…
Molecules and dust are formed in and around the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and supernovae (SNe), and are ejected into the interstellar medium (ISM) through the stellar wind. The dust and gas contain elements newly synthesised in…
(abridged) The dust content of the universe is primarily explored via its interaction with stellar photons, producing interstellar extinction. However, owing to the physical extension of the observing beam, observations may detect scattered…
The ultraviolet-to-radio continuum spectral energy distributions are presented for all 75 galaxies in the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS). A principal component analysis of the sample shows that most of the sample's spectral…
This article is based on an invited talk given by V. P. Kulkarni at the 8th Cosmic Dust meeting. Dust has a profound effect on the physics and chemistry of the interstellar gas in galaxies and on the appearance of galaxies. Understanding…