Dust In The Galactic Environment

Dust is a ubiquitous feature of the cosmos, impinging directly or indirectly on most fields of modern astronomy and astrophysics. Dust in the Galactic Environment, Second Edition provides a thorough overview of the subject, covering general concepts, methods of investigation, important results and their significance, relevant literature, and some suggestions for promising avenues of future research. Since the publication of the first edition of this popular graduate text, major advances have been made in our understanding of astrophysical dust, especially in the light of exciting new results from space- and ground-based telescopes, together with advances in laboratory astrophysics and theoretical modeling. This new, expanded edition highlights the latest results and provides a context for future research opportunities. The first chapter provides a historical perspective for current research and an overview of interstellar environments and the role of dust in astrophysical processes, followed by a discussion of the cosmic history of the chemical elements expected to be present in dust and an examination of the effect of gas-dust interactions on gas phase abundances. The next several chapters describe the observed properties of interstellar grains, such as their extinction, polarization, absorption, and emission characteristics. Then, the book explores the origin and evolution of dust, tracing its life cycle in a succession of environments from circumstellar shells to diffuse interstellar clouds, molecular clouds, protostars, and protoplanetary disks. The final chapter summarizes progress toward a unified model. Dust in other galaxies is discussed as an integral part of the text rather than as a distinct topic requiring separate chapters. Containing extensive references and problems to aid understanding and illustrate basic principles, the book is ideally suited for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses. It will also be an invaluable reference for postgraduate students and researchers working in this important field.

Dust in the Galactic Environment, Third Edition provides a thorough overview of the subject, covering general concepts, methods of investigation, important results and their significance, relevant literature, and some suggestions for promising avenues of future research. Major advances have been made in the last two decades in our understanding of astrophysical dust. These have been driven by discoveries arising from new observational facilities such as the Spitzer, Planck, and Herschel Space Telescopes, as well as important parallel developments in laboratory studies of cosmic and terrestrial analog materials. This new, expanded edition reviews these developments, summarizes the current state of the field, and considers possibilities for future advances, for example with the James Webb Space Telescope. It includes introductory material for new entrants to the field alongside detailed discussion for more advanced students and researchers.

- First book to present a comprehensive study of dust in the universe

Written by experts who created the field, this volume explores uncharted scientific territory, with articles discussing the effect of our galactic environment on the heliosphere, planetary system and Earth. Leading experts in diverse fields discuss the physical changes expected as the heliosphere adjusts to its galactic environment. Topics include the interaction between solar wind and interstellar dust and gas, cosmic ray modulation, magnetospheres, variations in the solar environment, and the cosmic ray isotope record preserved in paleoclimate data.

Without interstellar dust, the Universe as we see it today would not exist. Yet at first we considered this vital ingredient merely an irritating fog that prevented a clear view of the stars and nebulae in the Milky Way and other galaxies. We now know that interstellar dust has essential roles in the physics and chemistry of the formation of stars and planetary systems, the creation of the building blocks of life, and in the movement of those molecules to new planets. This is the story in this book. After introducing the materials this interstellar dust is made of, the authors explain the range of sizes and shapes of the dust grains in the Milky Way galaxy and the life cycle of dust, starting from the origins of dust grains in stellar explosions through to their turbulent destruction. Later on we see the variety of processes in interstellar space involving dust and the events there that cause the dust to change in ways that astronomers and astrobiologists can use to indirectly observe those events. This book is written for a general audience, concentrating on ideas rather than detailed mathematics and chemical formulae, and is the first time interstellar dust has been discussed at an accessible level.