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E. KONTIZAS Astronomical Institute National Observatory of Athens P. O. Box 20048 Athens GR-1181O GREECE The international conference on "Wide-Field Spectroscopy" and its sub ject matter were agreed during the general assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in August 1994 by the Working Group of Com mision 9 "Wi de-Field Imaging". This meeting gave an opportunity to world experts on this subject to gather in Athens, in order to discuss the cur rent exploitation and the impending opportunities that exist in the area of multi-object spectroscopy, with particular emphasis on: 1. Astronomical instruments, data acquisition, processing and analysis techniques. 2. Astrophysical problems best tackled through wide-field, multi-object spectroscopy. The new fibre optic technology offers an important tool for the advancement of basic research and the development of industrial applications. Astronom ical spectroscopy is a field of astronomy which has contributed much to the advancement of fundamental physics. The spectra of hot stars have been used to determine the well-known Balmer formula for the wavelength of hydrogen lines, in the late 19th century. Since then, spectroscopy has made enormous progress in stellar atmosphere studies, in kinematics, and in the detection of high redshifts in the Universe. The traditional techniques of obtaining wide-field spectroscopic data are based on slitless spectroscopy (objective prism). Several observations, world wide, make use ofthese tech niques in order to obtain information on the spectral properties of objects in large areas of the sky.
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WIDE-FIELD SPECTROSCOPY ASTROPHYSICS AND SPACE SCIENCE LIBRARY VOLUME 212 Executive Committee w. B. BURTON, Sterrewacht, Leiden, The Netherlands J. M. E. KUUPERS, Faculty of Science, Nijmegen, The Netherlands E. P. J. VAN DEN HEUVEL, Astronomical Institute, University ofAmsterdam, The Netherlands H. VAN DER LAAN, Astronomical Institute, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands Editorial Board I. APPENZELLER, Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Konigstuhl, Germany J. N. BAHCALL, The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, U.S.A. F. BERTOLA, Universita di Padova, Italy W. B. BURTON, Sterrewacht, Leiden, The Netherlands 1. P. CASSINELLI, University of Wisconsin, Madison, U.S.A. C. J. CESARSKY, Centre d' Etudes de Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France O. ENGVOLD, Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Norway J. M. E. KUIJPERS, Faculty of Science, Nijmegen, The Netherlands R. McCRAY, University of Colorado, JILA, Boulder, U.S.A. P. G. MURDIN, Royal Greenwich Observatory, Cambridge, U.K. F. PACINI, Istituto Astronomia Arcetri, Firenze, Italy V. RADHAKRISHNAN, Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, India F. H. SHU, University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A. B. V. SOMOV, Astronomical Institute, Moscow State University, Russia R. A. SUNY AEV, Space Research Institute, Moscow, Russia S. TREMAINE, CITA, University of Toronto, Canada Y. TANAKA, Institute of Space & Astronautical Science, Kanagawa, Japan E. P. J. VAN DEN HEUVEL, Astronomical Institute, University ofAmsterdam, The Netherlands H. VANDER LAAN, Astronomical Institute, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands N. O. WEISS, University of Cambridge, U.K. WIDE-FIELD SPECTROSCOPY Proceedings of the 2nd Conference of the Working Group ofIAU Commission 9 on "Wide-Field Imaging" held in Athens, Greece, May 20-25, 1996 Edited by E. KONTIZAS Astronomical Institute, National Observatory of Athens, Greece M.KONTIZAS Department of Physics, University ofAthens, Greece D. H. MORGAN U.K. Schmidt Telescope Unit, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, U.K. and G. P. VETIOLANI Istituto di Radioastronomia, CNR, Bologna, Italy SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V. Library of Congress Catalogin