Galaxies have a history. This has become clear from recent sky
surveys which have shown that distant galaxies, formed early in the
life of the Universe, differ from the nearby ones. New
observational windows at ultraviolet, infrared and millimetric
wavelengths (provided by ROSAT, IRAM, IUE, IRAS, ISO) have revealed
that galaxies contain a wealth of components: very hot gas, atomic
hydrogen, molecules, dust, dark matter ...
A significant advance is expected due to new instruments (VLT,
FIRST, XMM) which will allow one to explore the most distant
Universe. Three Euroconferences have been planned to punctuate this
new epoch in galactic research, bringing together specialists in
various fields of Astronomy.
The first one, held in Granada (Spain) in May 2000, addressed the
observational clues. The second one took place in October 2001 in
St Denis de la Réunion (France) and reviewed the basic building
blocks and small-scale processes in galaxy evolution. The third one
will take place in July 2002 in Kiel (Germany) and will be devoted
to the overall modelling of galaxy evolution. This book contains
the proceedings of the second conference. It is suitable for
researchers and PhD students in Astrophysics.
Foreword. Introductory Session. 1. Star Information. 2. Nucleosynthesis and stellar Evolution. 3. Energy flows in the interstellar medium. 4. Environmental effects on galaxy evolution. 5. Primeval stars and galaxies. List of Participants. Author Index.
