ISO Status Report - February 2003
In December, a new version (5.3) of the ISO Data Archive was released, with enhanced capabilities for the Survey Products viewer, which is now also used by the XMM-Newton Science Archive. The ISO Data Archive is always busy, with 50 to 100 downloads per month, accessing typically 5% of the product content, with 20 or 30% of usage coming from the USA.
Work on documentation continues well, with the delivery of the proceedings of the conference "Exploiting the ISO Data Archive - Infrared Astronomy in the Internet Age" held at Siguenza, E, on June 24-27 to the ESA Publication Division for printing and distribution (77 papers). The legacy versions of the remaining ISO Handbook volumes (ISOCAM and ISO) are expected to be released by the time of the meeting. Activities will now focus on implementing selected projects leading to "Expert Reduced Data" for ingestion in the ISO Data Archive.
Science Highlights
ISO continues to have a significant presence in the refereed literature with some 150 articles drawing upon ISO data having appeared in 2002. These papers cover almost all areas of astronomy. Recent results include:
- An analysis of ISO-SWS spectra of 13 variable stars in the 2.36-5 um region. All of the studied objects show intense water bands producing a deep absorption dip around 2.5 mu. Features of CO, OH, SiO and CO2 are also visible. While the M-type Semiregular, Lb and Miras (at maximum of their light curve) spectra can be interpreted with hydrostatic models. Miras at the minimum of their light curve require dynamic models.
- A complete far-infrared spectrophotometric survey of Herbig AeBe (HAEBE) stars observed by ISO-LWS (25% of all the known HAEBE). This catalogue constitutes an essential database in view of forthcoming space missions.
- A coherent spectroscopic reference for future extragalactic studies in the mid-infrared based on ISO-SWS spectra of 29 AGNs. Diagnostic diagrammes are shown as tools for determining the properties of dusty galaxies and on the AGN-starburst connection.
Authors of papers based on systematic analysis of ISO observations will be offered the possibility of ingesting the reduced data in the ISO Data Archive, with the help of the ISO Data Centre.