Spiral galaxies in the near IR

From June 7-9, 1995, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Max Plank Institut fiir Astrophysik (MPA) jointly held the Workshop on Spiral Galaxies in the Near-IR. This meeting took place at the ESO headquarters in Garching bei Miinchen, Germany. The weather waschanging, with the biergarten closed, but that did not stop 85 people from allover the world from attending the meeting. The three days were intensive, with talks and coffee and posters from 9 am to 6 pm, and very productive indeed for everyone. The topics covered the stellar populations of the Milky Way and other more distant spirals, the role of dust, the dynamics of spiral galaxies, and the nuclear activity seen at near-IR wavelengths. This volume presents the original contributions from the participants, including several papers that review the state-of-the-art knowledge in these various subjects. The editors would like to thank first and foremost Christina Stoffer, for she took care of everything. The meeting would not have been so successful without her expertise and efficiency. We are deeply indebted to the directors of MPA and ESO Science, Simon White and Jacqueline Bergeron, for their support and encouragement. We would also like to thank the other members of the scientific organizing committee: R. Genzel, K. Freeman, A. Moorwood, S. White, M. Rieke and E. Athannasoula, for their advice with the organization of the program. We also thank G. Rieke, R. Genzel, L. Athannasoula, A. Renzini and R.