Light on dark matter

Between January and November of 1983, the Dutch-American-British Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) conducted a sensitive and unbiased survey of the sky in four wavelength bands centred at 12, 25, 60 and 100 microns. At the symposium 'Light on Dark Matter' the scientific results of this mission were reviewed with special emphasis on processes of star formation, late evolutionary stages of stars, galaxy properties, and the characteristics of dust particles in the interstellar medium. At the same time, a workshop was held to discuss the latter subject in more detail. The present proceedings contain two dozen reviews by specialists in their respective fields, as well as a large number of workshop reports and contributed poster papers highlighting specific research projects. (Auth.)