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Drawing on exciting discoveries of the last forty years, Night Vision explores how infrared astronomy, an essential tool for modern astrophysics and cosmology, helps astronomers reveal our Universe's most fascinating phenomena – from the birth of stars in dense clouds of gas to black holes and distant colliding galaxies and the traffic of interstellar dust from the formation of our Solar System. While surveying the progress in infrared observation, astronomer Michael Rowan-Robinson introduces readers to the pioneering scientists and engineers who painstakingly developed infrared astronomy over the past two hundred years. Accessible and well illustrated, this comprehensive volume is written for the interested science reader, amateur astronomer or university student, while researchers in astronomy and the history of science will find Rowan-Robinson's detailed notes and references a valuable resource.

Galaxies represent the most readily visible fabric of the cosmos. Their morphological types, luminosities and environmental surroundings contain valuable clues as to their origin and evolution. Locally, a strong correlation is seen between galaxy morphology and environmental location; this may have been molded at surprisingly modest redshifts. Spectroscopic and photometric studies of deep fields also suggest remarkably recent changes in the galaxy population. The associated growth of structure during the same interval can be tracked via X-ray studies of distant clusters of galaxies.Very recently, impressive observational facilities have been completed, each of which has extended the astronomers'dataset to look-back times where such evolutionary effects can be studied.This volume discusses surveys which share a common theme — the need for a large number of ground-based spectra. It focuses on the various approaches via a single theme concerned with the evolution of galaxies and their distribution. In the near future, impressive new observational facilities will be able to generate large statistical spectroscopic surveys, and the aim of this volume is to assess the scientific impact that ongoing and future spectroscopic surveys can make. Emphasis is placed on the role of non-optical and satellite facilities and the co-ordination of international efforts.