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Session 75 - Dust & PAHs in Galaxies.
Display session, Friday, January 09
Exhibit Hall,
Galaxy M31 was observed by the SPIRIT III infrared radiometer on the MSX satellite in the summer of 1996 (astronomy on MSX has been described by Price et al., V 1996, IAU Symposium No. 179, Baltimore). M31 images of size 1\deg \times 3\deg with \sim 9^'' pixels have been produced in bands A (6.8\mu m - 10.8\mu m), C (11.1\mu m - 13.2 \mu m), D (13.5 \mu m - 15.9 \mu m) and E (18 \mu m - 25 \mu m) of MSX. Band A which overlaps major PAH emission features at 7.7\mum and 8.6\mum appears stronger than band C which overlaps the PAH feature at 11.3\mum. Band D which does not overlap any PAH features and represents the broad continuum appears weak.
IRAS 12\mum band spans a spectral range of 8\mu m - 15\mu m, which overlaps most of bands A, C and D. The HiRes images of M31 from IRAS at 12\mum are compared with bands A and coadded results from bands C amp; D. In light of the relative strengths of bands A and C, the strength of IRAS 12\mum band can be related to the PAH features at 7.7\mum and 8.6\mum.
The band A data were directly imaged without enhancement. The features in this image show superior resolution compared to MCM and MEM resolution enahncement methods. The data are also more sensitive.
