Comets to Cosmology [electronic resource] : Proceedings of the Third IRAS Conference Held at Queen Mary College, University of London July 6–10, 1987 / edited by Andrew Lawrence.

The impact of IRAS on asteroidal science -- Iras observations of asteroids -- Models for infrared emission from zodiacal dust -- Separating the solar system and galactic contributions to the diffuse infrared background -- Zodiacal dust properties as deduced by inversion of iras observations -- The infrared spectrum of Comet P/Halley -- Halley’s Comet -- The albedo of large refractory particles from p/Tempel 2 -- Infrared studies of solar system bodies -- The large scale distribution of infrared radiation in our Galaxy -- Large scale structure of dust and gas in the Galaxy -- Model for the galactic infrared emission -- The nature of the Galactic bulge -- A procedure for distinguishing thermal and synchrotron components of the radio continuum emission of the Galactic disc -- Infrared cirrus -- Infrared emission from the solar neighborhood -- A post-iras interstellar dust model -- The excitation of the infrared emission from visual reflection nebulae -- Extended infrared emission near stars -- Beyond the asymptotic giant branch -- The study of star formation with IRAS -- The luminosity functions of taurus and chamaeleon -- Infrared spectra of young stellar objects -- High luminosity galaxies in the IRAS survey -- Starbursts: Nature and environment -- Star formation in normal galaxies -- The association between stellar bars and enhanced activity in the central kiloparsec of spiral galaxies -- Global properties of star formation in spiral galaxies -- Radio and optical studies of a complete sample of IRAS galaxies -- Optical and far infrared properties of a 60µm flux limited sample of IRAS galaxies -- IRAS observations of normal galaxies: The UGC redshift sample -- Separation of nuclear and disk components in IRAS observations of spiral galaxies -- A post IRAS view of active galaxies -- Far infrared emission of type 2 seyferts -- Starbursts in interacting galaxies -- The role of bars in starburst galaxies -- Are starbursts the result of the fine tuning of dynamical timescales? -- IRAS observations of an optical sample of interacting galaxies -- Cosmological background radiation in the infrared -- Rocket observation of the diffuse infrared radiation -- Spectrum of the cosmic microwave background -- From star formation to galaxy formation -- Galaxies as tracers of the mass distribution -- Young galaxies -- Infrared and optical observations of distant radio galaxies -- A very deep IRAS survey at the North Ecliptic Pole -- Cosmological evolution of starburst galaxies and IRAS counts at 60 µm -- The IRAS dipole -- A redshift survey of IRAS galaxies -- The impact of infrared astronomy on the distance scale -- Conference summary.

These proceedings are concerned with discoveries from the Infra-Red Astronomical Satellite IRAS including follow-up projects in theoretical and observational astronomy. In particular, they stress the solar system results from IRAS. A huge range of astronomical topics is addressed including asteroids, comets, dust in the solar neighbourhood, young stars, old stars, the interstellar medium, and the Galactic cosmic background at various wavelengths.