IC349 in the Pleades cluster, obtained by George Herbig and Ted Simon George Herbig and Alan Tokunaga study the nature of interstellar matter itself. Herbig is making a comprehensive study of diffuse interstellar bands, which are fuzzy absorption lines found in the spectra of stars whenever they are seen through a sufficient thickness of interstellar material. Even though the bands were first discovered about seventy years ago and there are now over one hundred bands known, the responsible material has not yet been identified. Tokunaga is undertaking studies of the carbon-containing material in the interstellar medium and in comets by spectroscopy at a wavelength of 3.4 microns. He also collaborates with astrochemists to analyze laboratory analogues of the carbonaceous material in space that produces strong emission features in the 3 - 12 micron wavelength range.
Stars form in interstellar clouds, which are cold and dense.
David Sanders uses the CSO and JCMT telescopes to map giant molecular clouds in our Galaxy and in other galaxies. His goal is to understand the physical processes that lead to the formation of high-mass stars in these clouds, and to gain insight into the even larger star formation regions that are found in the central regions of some other galaxies. Gareth Wynn-Williams has been using infrared and submillimeter telescopes to try to understand how dust is heated in and around HII regions. The earliest stages of star formation take place deep within molecular clouds, from which little of no light emerges. Infrared radiation passes much more freely through interstellar clouds than does light, so several astronomers at UH, including Klaus Hodapp , John Rayner and Alan Tokunaga use infrared telescopes to study the star formation processes.