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V. Charmandaris (Cornell University)
Even though the dust constitutes less than one hundredth of the mass of the interstellar medium it is now widely accepted that its influence on the energetics of galaxies, due to the heating of the gas via photoelectrons, as well as on their obscuration/extinction properties and overall morphology is profound. Interactions between galaxies cause instabilities and lead to massive star formation over extended spatial scales where the properties of interstellar radiation field, gas and dust content vary substantially. I will present a review of our current knowledge on the warm dust content of interacting galaxies in the local universe. An emphasis will be given on the interpretation of their mid-IR properties using the results obtained over the past 4 years with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and how we can improve upon them using the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF).
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: vassilis@astro.cornell.edu