Related papers: C$_{60}^+$ - looking for the bucky-ball in interst…
Besides the need of Stark broadening parameters for a number of problems in physics, and plasma technology, in hot star atmospheres the conditions exist where Stark widths are comparable and even larger than the thermal Doppler widths.…
Whether ice in cold cosmic environments is physically separated from the silicate dust or mixed with individual silicate moieties is not known. However, different grain models give very different compositions and temperatures of grains. The…
C$^+$ is a critical constituent of many regions of the interstellar medium, as it can be a major reservoir of carbon and, under a wide range of conditions, the dominant gas coolant. Emission from its 158$\mu$m fine structure line is used to…
It is surprising to find dust around B type stars, as in the case of B[e] stars. These stars exhibit a dense, dusty environment witnessed by their infrared-excess and many emission lines from permitted and forbidden transitions. Given the…
We report the discovery in space of a disilicon species, SiCSi, from observations between 80 and 350 GHz with the IRAM 30m radio telescope. Owing to the close coordination between laboratory experiments and astrophysics, 112 lines have now…
The abundances of gas and dust (solids and complex molecules) in the interstellar medium (ISM) as well as their composition and structures impact practically all of astrophysics. Fundamental processes from star formation to stellar winds to…
We present an argument for a {\it lower limit} to the Compton-$y$ parameter describing spectral distortions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The absence of a detectable Gunn-Peterson signal in the spectra of high redshift quasars…
Among stars in Galactic globular clusters the carbon abundance tends to decrease with increasing luminosity on the upper red giant branch, particularly within the lowest metallicity clusters. While such a phenomena is not predicted by…
In studying the interstellar medium (ISM) and Galactic cosmic rays (CRs), uncertainty of the interstellar gas density has always been an issue. To overcome this difficulty, we used a component decomposition of the 21-cm HI line emission and…
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…
We present here the 7.0-8.7 micron spectrum of the bright reflection nebula NGC 7023. Our observations are made with the Short Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS) on the European satellite Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). The vibrational bands…
Observations of CO+ suggest column densities on the order 10^12 cm^-2 that can not be reproduced by many chemical models. CO+ is more likely to be destroyed than excited in collisions with hydrogen. An anomalous excitation mechanism may…
The expansion of interstellar bubbles is suggested to be an important mechanism of triggering material accumulation and star formation. In this work, we study the gaseous environment of a large sample of bubbles, aiming to explore the…
Interstellar absorption lines up to J"=10 in the (2,0) band and up to J"=6 in the (3,0) band of the C$_2$ $A^1\Pi_u$ - $X^1\Sigma^+_g$ system are detected toward star Cernis 52 (BD+31$^o$ 640) in the Perseus molecular complex. The star lies…
The Fermi-LAT data revealed giant bubbles of emission above and below the Galactic plane with an energy spectrum significantly harder than seen from other directions. How the bubbles connect to the Galactic plane is unclear. We find that…
The intermittent dissipation of interstellar turbulence is an important energy source in the diffuse ISM. Though on average smaller than the heating rates due to cosmic rays and the photoelectric effect on dust grains, the turbulent cascade…
Interstellar thermal pressures can be measured using C I absorption lines that probe the pressure-sensitive populations of the fine-structure levels of its ground state. In a survey of C I absorption toward Galactic hot stars, Jenkins &…
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},…
The presence of H3+ in the interstellar medium was forecast almost four decades ago. Almost three decades ago it was asserted that its reactions with neutral molecular and atomic species directly lead to the production of many of the…
Using the Planck far-infrared and Arecibo GALFA 21-cm line surveys, we identified a set of isolated interstellar clouds (approximately degree-sized on the sky and comprising 100 solar masses) and assessed the ratio of gas mass to dust mass.…