The wavelength displacement of the Diffuse Interstellar Bands at 4502, 5705, 5780, 6284, and 7224 AA with respect to the well known, narrow atomic/molecular interstellar lines (of Ca{sc ii} and Na{sc i}) have been measured in the spectra of the 2 Ori
on Trapezium stars HD 37022 and HD 37020, using the HARPStextendash N spectrograph, fed with the 3.5 m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, and the BOES spectrograph, fed with the 1.8m Korean telescope. The red shift is $sim$25 km/s for all these DIBs. We discuss the various possible origins of this very peculiar wavelength shift in the light of the particular physical conditions in the Orion Trapezium. The above mentioned shift is seemingly absent in the DIBs at 6196 and 6993 AA.
We report the detection of eight vibronic bands of C$_3$, seven of which have been hitherto unobserved in astrophysical objects, in the translucent cloud towards HD~169454. Four of these bands are also found towards two additional objects: HD~73882 a
nd HD~154368. Very high signal-to-noise ratio ($sim$1000 and higher) and high resolving power ($R=80,000$) UVES-VLT spectra (Paranal, Chile) allow for detecting novel spectral features of C$_3$, even revealing weak perturbed features in the strongest bands. The work presented here provides the most complete spectroscopic survey of the so far largest carbon chain detected in translucent interstellar clouds. High-quality laboratory spectra of C$_3$ are measured using cavity ring-down absorption spectroscopy in a supersonically expanding hydrocarbon plasma, to support the analysis of the identified bands towards HD~169454. A column density of N(C$_3$) = $(6.6 pm 0.2) times 10^{12}$ cm$^{-2}$ is inferred and the excitation of the molecule exhibits two temperature components; $T_{exc}= 22 pm 1$ K for the low-$J$ states and $T_{exc}= 187 pm 25$ K for the high-$J$ tail. The rotational excitation of C$_3$ is reasonably well explained by models involving a mechanism including inelastic collisions, formation and destruction of the molecule, and radiative pumping in the far-infrared. These models yield gas kinetic temperatures comparable to those found for $T_{exc}$. The assignment of spectral features in the UV-blue range 3793-4054 AA may be of relevance for future studies aiming at unravelling spectra to identify interstellar molecules associated with the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs).
