Bøger af Immo Appenzeller

The objective of this meeting was to bring together collea­ gues from different branches of observational astronomy and theoretical astrophysics to discuss and analyse the rapid progress in our knowledge and understanding of the matter surrounding stars, streaming off stellar surfaces, or fall­ ing onto stars. The meeting was sponsored by IAU Commis­ sions 36 (Theory of Stellar Atmospheres), 29 (Stellar Spec­ tra), and 34 (Interstellar Matter). There were two special reasons for organizing this meeting at Heidelberg in 1986: During this year the University of Heidelberg celebrated its 600th anniversary and the IAU symposium joined the many scientific events accompanying this celebration. Secondly, the year 1986 also marked the conclusion of a special co­ operative research project ("Sonderforschungsbereich") in astrophysics at Heidelberg, a major part of which had been devoted to the physics of circumstellar matter. The main topics discussed at this meeting were: (1) circumstellar matter, bipolar flows, and jets from young stars and protostars; (2) circumstellar envelopes of evolved stars; (3) stellar coronae; (4) stellar winds from hot and cool stars; (5) dust formation and circumstellar chemistry. Many exciting new results were presented in 21 invited or review papers, 26 contributed papers, and 127 poster papers. This symposium would not have been possible without the generous financial assistance of the International Astronomical Union, the German Science Foundation (DFG), and the State Government of Baden-Wurttemberg. The practi­ cal support of the University of Heidelberq and the Max­ Planck-Society was also very valuable.

IAU Transactions XXIIB summarizes the work of the XXIInd General Assembly. The discourses given during the Inaugural and Closing Ceremonies are reproduced in Chapters I and III, respectively. The proceedings of the two sessions of the General Assembly will be found in Chapter II, which includes the Resolutions and the report of the Finance Committee. The Statutes, Bye-Laws and a few working rules of the Union are published in Chapter IV. The Accounts and other aspects of the administration of the Union are recorded in Chapter V, together with the report of the Executive Committee for this last triennium, and provide the permanent record for the Union in the period 1991-1994. This volume also contains the Commission reports from The Hague compiled by the Presidents of the Commissions (Chapter VI). Finally, Chapter VII contains the list of countries adhering to the Union and the alphabetical, geographical and commission membership lists of about 8000 individual members. The IAU still appears to be unique among the scientific Unions in maintaining this category of individual membership which contributes in a crucial way to the spirit and the aims of the Union.

This volume of the Highlights of Astronomy contains the Invited Discourses and the proceedings or summaries of Joint Discussions, Special Sessions, and Working Group Meetings held at the XIInd IAU General Assembly in August 1994 in The Hague. While the three Invited Discourses are reproduced in the order of their appearance in the meeting programme, the Joint Discussions have been reordered according to their topics. Not included in this volume are the proceedings of the GA Symposia which will be published individually in the IAU Symposia series. I am most grateful to the authors of the invited discourses for preparing manuscripts in spite of heavy other commitments. It is a pleasure to express my appreciation of the work by Dr. Jacqueline Bergeron in organizing the XXIInd General Assembly, and I wish to thank all authors and meeting chairpersons for their cooperation and for providing their contributions in time to meet the customary publication schedule of this series. Special thanks are due to Ms. Monique Leger-Orine from the IAU office for considerable and patient assistance in the final editing, and to Dr. Tom Herbst from the Max­ Planck-Institute for Astronomy for permission to reproduce on the cover of this volume one of his IR images of Jupiter obtained just after the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact, one of the definite Highlights of Astronomy in 1994.

This volume of the Highlights of Astronomy contains the Invited Discourses and the proceedings or summaries of Joint Discussions, Special Sessions, and Working Group Meetings held at the XIInd IAU General Assembly in August 1994 in The Hague.

Spectroscopy is the principal tool used in astronomy to investigate the Universe beyond Earth's atmosphere. Through the analysis of electromagnetic radiation, spectrographs enable observers to assess the chemical composition, kinematics and local physical properties of distant stars, nebulae and galaxies. Thoroughly illustrated and clearly written, this handbook offers a practical and comprehensive guide to the different spectroscopic methods used in all branches of astronomy, at all wavelengths from radio to gamma-ray and from ground and space-borne instruments. After a historical overview of the field, the central chapters navigate the various types of hardware used in spectroscopy. In-depth descriptions of modern techniques and their benefits and drawbacks help you choose the most promising observation strategy. The handbook finishes by assessing new technologies and future prospects for deep-sky observation. This text is an ideal reference for today's graduate students and active researchers, as well as those designing or operating spectroscopic instruments.

This comprehensive account of the last ten years' scientific results on high-redshift galaxies summarizes and critically discusses the wealth of observational data as well as the methods which made it possible to study these distant and faint objects.