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We present the mid-infrared star formation rates of 245 X-ray selected, nearby (z < 0.1) brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). A homogeneous and volume limited sample of BCGs was created by X-ray selecting clusters with Lx > 1 × 1044 erg s− 1. The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) All WISE Data Release provides the first measurement of the 12 μm star formation indicator for all BCGs in the nearby Universe. Perseus A and Cygnus A are the only galaxies in our sample to have star formation rates of > 40 M⊙ yr− 1, indicating that these two galaxies are highly unusual at current times. Stellar populations of 99 ± 0.6 per cent of local BCGs are (approximately) passively evolving, with star formation rates of < 10 M⊙ yr− 1. We find that in general, star formation produces only modest BCG growth at the current epoch. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Dust attenuation in star-forming spiral galaxies affects stars and gas in different ways due to local variations in dust geometry. We present spatially resolved measurements of dust attenuation for a sample of 232 such star-forming spiral galaxies, derived from spectra acquired by the SDSS-IV MaNGA survey. The dust attenuation affecting the stellar populations of these galaxies (obtained using full spectrum stellar population fitting methods) is compared with the dust attenuation in the gas (derived from the Balmer decrement). Both of these attenuation measures increase for local regions of galaxies with higher star formation rates; the dust attenuation affecting the stellar populations increases more so than the dust attenuation in the gas, causing the ratio of the dust attenuation affecting the stellar populations to the dust attenuation in the gas to decrease for local regions of galaxies with higher star formation rate densities. No systematic difference is discernible in any of these dust attenuation quantities between the spiral arm and interarm regions of the galaxies. While both the dust attenuation in the gas and the dust attenuation affecting the stellar populations decrease with galactocentric radius, the ratio of the two quantities does not vary with radius. This ratio does, however, decrease systematically as the stellar mass of the galaxy increases. Analysis of the radial profiles of the two dust attenuation measures suggests that there is a disproportionately high concentration of birth clouds (incorporating gas, young stars, and clumpy dust) nearer to the centres of star-forming spiral galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]