The Diffuse Interstellar Bands have been known for almost 100 years, but remain unidentified to this day. They are much broader than interstellar thermal motions would permit and are thought to be broadened by mechanisms internal to the unidentified molecules. Four observable features from the molecule C60+ have been identified by a Swiss group, in the lab. There are ~600 DIBs to go! I will describe correlation studies of DIBs with other interstellar measurements and profile measurements that suggest some stronger DIBs are caused by small (6-7 atom) molecules. Our current understanding of interstellar chemistry and interstellar clouds is not sufficient to provide and explanation for the DIBs, and further research is likely to upset what we think we do know. I will briefly discuss programs with LAMOST that could augment current research on DIBs.
Bio: Professor Don York is the Horace B. Horton Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. His research deals with the dust and gas in the Galactic interstellar medium and in the high-redshift intergalactic medium. Prof. York received his B.S. in physics in 1966 from MIT and his Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Chicago in 1971. He was a research astronomer on the Copernicus satellite project at Princeton University, in 1970-1982. He has been a member of the faculty of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago since 1983. He is the Founding Director of both the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Apache Point Observatory. |
