We intend to search for diffuse intergalactic dust emission
 in Hickson compact groups (HCG's). Evidence has surfaced in
 the last few years for a diffuse component in loose groups
 which are regarded as the precursors of compact groups (CG's).
 HI, optical and X-ray data all show evidence for a diffuse
 component in the intragroup medium (IGM) of CG's. The X-ray
 observations find evidence for both solar and primordial
 abundance IGM emission in different CG's. The latter emission
 would likely originate from stripping during the frequent
 galaxy-galaxy encounters in the CG's.  We would like to target
 two CG's with the highest likelihood to show diffuse IGM dust
 emission. They are spiral rich, FIR bright and, in the case
 of HCG 92, show evidence for solar abundance in the hot
 intragroup gas. Our calculations suggest that such an
 intragroup dust component can survive (and is detectable) in
 groups with diffuse hot gas especially if they are as
 dynamically young as the models suggest. It will be very
 interesting to compare the properties of intragroup dust if
 detected with intracluster dust emission that we expect will be
 detected by ISO.

 The observations will also help to resolve the ambiguity over
 which galaxies in these groups are FIR emitters. The ambiguity
 resulted from the resolution limitations of IRAS. This aspect
 is not discussed further in the proposal.