Bøger i ESO Astrophysics Symposia serien

Many important observational clues about our understanding of how stars and planets form in the interior of molecular clouds have been amassed using recent technological developments. It presents theoretical and a host of observational results and many papers show the plans for future observations.

Many important observational clues about our understanding of how stars and planets form in the interior of molecular clouds have been amassed using recent technological developments. ESO's Very Large Telescope promises to be a major step forward in the investigation of stellar nurseries and infant stars. This volume collects papers from the leaders in this very timely field of astrophysical research. It presents theoretical and a host of observational results and many papers show the plans for future observations.

Since the use of high-precision/resolution spectroscopy is closely connected to the ability to collect a large number of photons, the scientific domains using this technique benefit tremendously from the use of 8-meter class telescopes and will fully exploit the tremendous gain provided by future Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs).

This volume documents recent developments that have advanced our understanding of the heating and cooling mechanisms in galaxies and galaxy clusters. An additional section covers new research findings on feedback and self-regulatory mechanisms during cosmic structure formation in general and in galaxy formation in particular.

The book is the first thorough overview of the first important steps to develop a worldwide virtual observatory so that, in the future, it could be easier to "dial-up" a part of the sky than wait many months to access a telescope.

The book reviews the present status of understanding the nature of the most luminous objects in the Universe, connected with supermassive black holes and supermassive stars, clusters of galaxies and ultraluminous galaxies, sources of gamma-ray bursts and relativistic jets.

Many important observational clues about our understanding of how stars and planets form in the interior of molecular clouds have been amassed using recent technological developments. It presents theoretical and a host of observational results and many papers show the plans for future observations.

Recently, improved observational capabilities have allowed the study of fainter and fainter extra-galactic planetary nebulae in galaxies well beyond the Milky Way. A wide range of topics is covered, from stellar and nebular astrophysics to galactic dynamics and galaxy clusters, making this a reference of broad astrophysical interest.

The book is the first thorough overview of the first important steps to develop a worldwide virtual observatory so that, in the future, it could be easier to "dial-up" a part of the sky than wait many months to access a telescope.

Then come four chapters reviewing the globular cluster system of early-type, late-type and dwarf galaxies, as well as of groups of galaxies. Finally a chapter reviews the kinematics of galaxies derived from globular cluster systems and another their role in the context of galaxy formation and evolution studies.

In October 2003, over 170 astronomers from 15 countries met for a 4-day workshop to illustrate and discuss major observational projects and ongoing theoretical efforts to model galaxy formation and evolution. This volume contains the proceedings of this meeting and is therefore an overview of the state of research in this rapidly evolving field.

Two specialized new instruments for ESO's VLT, VISIR and CRIRES, spawned the idea for this workshop. The papers are an interesting mix of reports from existing high resolution facilities, reports on modeling efforts of synthetic spectra and reports on laboratory spectra.

Supermassive black holes are now believed to play an important role in the evolution of the Universe. Suitable for the astrophysical community, this book also reviews theoretical and observational results on the formation and growth of the first black holes in the Universe and their role in the formation and evolution of galaxies.

Then come four chapters reviewing the globular cluster system of early-type, late-type and dwarf galaxies, as well as of groups of galaxies. Finally a chapter reviews the kinematics of galaxies derived from globular cluster systems and another their role in the context of galaxy formation and evolution studies.