Description
Imaging data from past FIR/submm space telescopes like Herschel, Planck, WISE and Spitzer, when combined with multiwavelength images in the UV, optical and NIR, allowed, for the first time, real advances in the self-consistent modelling of nearby galaxies through radiative transfer techniques. By solving the inverse problem for galaxies like M33, NGC628, M101, M51, the LMC, NGC891 and other well known galaxies, we are now able to derive spatially resolved distributions of intrinsic properties of galaxies, like SFR, specific SFR, dust masses, dust opacities, dust attenuation, and radiation fields, as well as resolved fundamental scaling relations. In addition, by using the same techniques, we can also use the inside view of our own Milky Way to provide a complete picture of the stellar and interstellar components of our Galaxy. Here I will review recent progress in this type of modelling and I will show how the inclusion of the clumpiness of the interstellar medium on parsec and subparsec resolution provides the solution to a long standing debate in the field, the so-called energy balance problem in edge-on galaxies. This is related to the more general debate of whether spiral galaxies are optically thin or optically thick (in the optical range). I will demonstrate the critical need for FIR imaging data in constraining the solution for this type of modelling and prospects for future work using PRIMA.
