Related papers: Tracing differential reddening with Diffuse Inters…
Observations have shown that the optical colors of Galactic cirrus clouds differ significantly from those of extragalactic sources; thus, they can be used to distinguish Galactic cirrus from extragalactic low surface brightness (LSB)…
Aiming for a new and more comprehensive DIB catalog between 4,000 and 9,000{\AA}, we revisited the Atlas Catalog based on the observations of HD 183143 and HD 204827 (Hobbs et al. 2008 and 2009). Twenty-five medium-to-highly reddened sight…
The DIRBE on the COBE spacecraft was designed primarily to conduct systematic search for an isotropic CIB in ten photometric bands from 1.25 to 240 microns. The results of that search are presented here. Conservative limits on the CIB are…
This paper presents a spectral survey of diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) in the NIR range, from 0.9 to 2.5 micron. The observations were designed to detect new DIBs, confirm previously proposed NIR DIBs, and characterise their behaviour…
We review aspects of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) spectral distortions which do not appear to have been fully explored in the literature. In particular, implications of recent evidences of heating of the intergalactic medium (IGM) by…
We decompose the COBE/DIRBE observations of the near-IR sky brightness (minus zodiacal light) into Galactic stellar and interstellar medium (ISM) components and an extragalactic background. This empirical procedure allows us to estimate the…
Large fullerenes and fullerene-based molecules have been proposed as carriers of diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs). The recent detection of the most common fullerenes (C60 and C70) around some planetary nebulae (PNe) now enable us to study…
The Diffuse Microwave Emission Survey (DIMES) has been selected for a mission concept study for NASA's New Mission Concepts for Astrophysics program. DIMES will measure the frequency spectrum of the cosmic microwave background and diffuse…
Diffuse Galactic cirrus, or Diffuse Galactic Light (DGL), can be a prominent component in the background of deep wide-field imaging surveys. The DGL provides unique insights into the physical and radiative properties of dust grains in our…
Any distortion of a chemical structure causes new features to appear in the absorption spectrum of the structure, especially in the visible and near UV (see Paper I). Chemical modeling, using molecular orbital theory, showed that the…
The identification of the carrier(s) of diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) is one of the oldest mysteries in stellar spectroscopy. With the advent of 8-10m-class telescopes substantial progress has been made in measuring the properties of…
We present the first results of a project aiming to trace the spatial structure of the Milky Way using detached eclipsing binaries (DEBs) as distance indicators. A sample of DEBs from the OGLE-II catalogue was selected and their near…
We study, for the first time, the relations of two strong diffuse bands (DIBs) at 9633 and 9577~\AA, commonly attributed to C$_{60}^+$, to other interstellar features seen in optical and UV spectra including H{\sc i}, Ca{\sc i}, Fe{\sc ii},…
Considered here is the interrelation between five diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs): $\lambda\lambda$ 5545, 6113, 6196, 6445 and 6614 \r{A}. Two DIBs ($\lambda$ 6196 and $\lambda$ 6614 \r{A}) have already been known as well correlated with…
The current weak lensing measurements of the large scale structure are mostly related to statistical study of background galaxy ellipticities. We consider a possibility to extend lensing studies with intrinsically unresolved sources and…
The diffuse stellar component of galaxy clusters known as intracluster light (ICL) has been proposed as an observable tracer of the cluster's dark matter (DM) halo. Assessing its reliability as a DM tracer requires understanding how the…
The recent infrared detection of fullerenes (C60 and C70) in Planetary Nebulae (PNe) and R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars offers a beautiful opportunity for studying the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) in sources where fullerenes are…
The wavelength displacement of the Diffuse Interstellar Bands at 4502, 5705, 5780, 6284, and 7224 \AA\ with respect to the well known, narrow atomic/molecular interstellar lines (of Ca{\sc ii} and Na{\sc i}) have been measured in the…
Understanding variations in the dust extinction curve is imperative for using dust as a tracer of local structure in the interstellar medium, understanding dust chemistry, and observational color corrections where dust is a nuisance…
A critical review of the very long-standing problem of the diffuse interstellar bands is presented with emphasis on spectroscopic aspects of observational, modelling and laboratory-based research. Some research themes and ideas that could…