ISO Status Report - November 2004
Their recommendations focused on making ISO data and results as widely available as possible, by
- concentrating the activities during the remaining 30 months on maximizing the content and visibility of the Highly Processed Data Products, the result of dedicated projects focused on cleaning the pipeline products from residual instrumental artefacts
- continuing with the integration of the ISO archive into the Virtual Observatories,
- ensuring prompt publication of the planned special issue of ISO Space Science Reviews, a 400 pages book reviewing the results of ISO.
A new, major version of the ISO Data Archive (IDA) (Version 7) was released on 8 June. This release includes enhanced quality information (important in the Virtual Observatory context), a link to ISO catalogues based at the Centre de Données Astronomique, Strasbourg, F and an improved postcard server. Additionally, ISOPHOT catalogues, an atlas of combined SWS and LWS observations of galactic HII regions and SWS observations of asteroids and planetary satellites have been added as Highly Processed Data Products.
Science Highlights
ISO continues to have a significant presence in the refereed literature, with 1160 papers published to date, embracing all areas of astronomy. Recent papers report on:
- The final band-merged European Large-Area ISO Survey (ELAIS) Catalogue
The ELAIS data at 6.7, 15, 90 and 175 µm, and the associated data at U, g', r', i', Z, J, H, K and 20 cm are presented. The total Catalogue consists of 3762 sources. 23 per cent of the 15-µm sources and 75 per cent of the 6.7-µm sources are stars. For extragalactic sources observed in three or more infrared bands, colour-colour diagrams are presented and discussed in terms of the contributing infrared populations. Spectral energy distributions (SEDs) are shown for selected sources (Rowan-Robinson et al, MNRAS)
- The catalogue of optically identified galaxies from the ISOPHOT 170µm Serendipity Survey
The ISOPHOT Serendipity Sky Survey strip-scanning measurements covering ~15% of the far-infrared (FIR) sky at 170 µm were searched for compact sources associated with optically identified galaxies. A catalogue with 170 µm fluxes for more than 1900 galaxies has been established. This is the only currently available large-scale galaxy catalogue containing a sufficient number of sources with 170 µm fluxes to allow further statistical studies of various FIR properties. (Stickel et al., A&A) Additionally, a major review paper (van Dishoeck, ARA&A) on "ISO Spectroscopy of Gas and Dust: from Molecular Clouds to Protoplanetary Disks" has just been published. This showcases the breadth and depth of observations made by the ISO spectrometers in the 2.4-200 µm range of interstellar gas-phase and solid-state species in the 2.4-200 µm range.