A synthesis of our present knowledge of interstellar dust

✍ Scribed by Paul S. Wesson

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1974
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 915 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0038-6308
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00178216

✦ Synopsis

The present state of knowledge as regards interstellar dust is reviewed in Section 1 (Introduction); Section 2 (Composition of Dust Grains: graphite, silicate, dirty-ice, diamond); Section 3 (Size of Grains: mainly r -~ 10 -6 cm); Section 4 (Charge and Temperature of Grains: charge varies from 1-10 electrons (H I clouds) to 500 electrons (HIr clouds); temperature of grain material is about 10-20K); Section 5 (Distribution and Origin of Grains: confined mainly to discs and arms of spiral galaxies, having had a passive origin by etttux from late-type stars or carbon-stars); Section 6 (Cosmogonical and Cosmological Aspects of Interstellar Grains : accretion by electrical-image forces of one dust grain onto a similarly-charged grain links up the absence of dust and gas in elliptical galaxies with the absence of a magnetic field of the type found in spirals. The origin of the 3 K background radiation field could be produced by a population of rotating silicate grains ofr ~ 10 -7 cm); Section 7 (Conclusion).