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We present new JWST observations of the nearby, prototypical edge-on, spiral galaxy NGC 891. The northern half of the disk was observed with NIRCam in its F150W and F277W filters. Absorption is clearly visible in the mid-plane of the F150W image, along with vertical dusty plumes that closely resemble the ones seen in the optical. A ∼10 × 3 kpc2 area of the lower circumgalactic medium (CGM) was mapped with MIRI F770W at 12 pc scales. Thanks to the sensitivity and resolution of JWST, we detect dust emission out to ∼4 kpc from the disk, in the form of filaments, arcs, and super-bubbles. Some of these filaments can be traced back to regions with recent star formation activity, suggesting that feedback-driven galactic winds play an important role in regulating baryonic cycling. The presence of dust at these altitudes raises questions about the transport mechanisms at play and suggests that small dust grains are able to survive for several tens of million years after having been ejected by galactic winds in the disk-halo interface. We lay out several scenarios that could explain this emission: dust grains may be shielded in the outer layers of cool dense clouds expelled from the galaxy disk, and/or the emission comes from the mixing layers around these cool clumps where material from the hot gas is able to cool down and mix with these cool cloudlets. This first set of data and upcoming spectroscopy will be very helpful to understand the survival of dust grains in energetic environments, and their contribution to recycling baryonic material in the mid-plane of galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Magellanic Bridge is the nearest low-metallicity, tidally stripped environment, offering a unique high-resolution view of physical conditions in merging and forming galaxies. In this paper, we present an analysis of candidate massive young stellar objects (YSOs), i.e., in situ, current massive star formation (MSF) in the Bridge using Spitzer mid-IR and complementary optical and near-IR photometry. While we definitely find YSOs in the Bridge, the most massive are ∼10 M☼, ≪45 M☼ found in the LMC. The intensity of MSF in the Bridge also appears to be decreasing, as the most massive YSOs are less massive than those formed in the past. To investigate environmental effects on MSF, we have compared properties of massive YSOs in the Bridge to those in the LMC. First, YSOs in the Bridge are apparently less embedded than in the LMC: 81% of Bridge YSOs show optical counterparts, compared to only 56% of LMC sources with the same range of mass, circumstellar dust mass, and line-of-sight extinction. Circumstellar envelopes are evidently more porous or clumpy in the Bridge's low-metallicity environment. Second, we have used whole samples of YSOs in the LMC and the Bridge to estimate the probability of finding YSOs at a given H I column density, N(H I). We found that the LMC has ∼3 × higher probability than the Bridge for N(H I) >12 × 1020 cm–2, but the trend reverses at lower N(H I). Investigating whether this lower efficiency relative to H I is due to less efficient molecular cloud formation or to less efficient cloud collapse, or to both, will require sensitive molecular gas observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on recent observations of molecular clouds in the tidal Magellanic Bridge; specifically, the ∼kpc-long, tidally extended “tail” of the Small Magellanic Cloud. In particular, we identify an unusually high 12CO(3–2)/12CO(1–0) ratio of 2–3 to 1, toward one of the clouds, suggesting a warm and dense molecular material associated with imminent or current formation of stars. Our ∼ 6 pc-resolution observations show that the target clouds have only a general correlation with bright 24 μm emission regions, occasionally offset by up to ∼ 15 pc. These detections support the scenario that stars are actively being created in this uniquely nearby tidal filament, in the present epoch, and that star formation is ongoing at a range of evolutionary stages or rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Galaxies observed at redshift z > 6, when the Universe was less than a billion years old, thus far very rarely show evidence of the cold dust that accompanies star formation in the local Universe, where the dust-to-gas mass ratio is around one per cent. A prototypical example is the galaxy Himiko (z = 6.6), which-a mere 840 million years after the Big Bang-is forming stars at a rate of 30-100 solar masses per year, yielding a mass assembly time of about 150 × 106 years. Himiko is thought to have a low fraction (2-3 per cent of the Sun's) of elements heavier than helium (low metallicity), and although its gas mass cannot yet be determined its dust-to-stellar mass ratio is constrained to be less than 0.05 per cent. The local dwarf galaxy I Zwicky 18, which has a metallicity about 4 per cent that of the Sun's and is forming stars less rapidly (assembly time about 1.6 × 109 years) than Himiko but still vigorously for its mass, is also very dust deficient and is perhaps one of the best analogues of primitive galaxies accessible to detailed study. Here we report observations of dust emission from I Zw 18, from which we determine its dust mass to be 450-1,800 solar masses, yielding a dust-to-stellar mass ratio of about 10−6 to 10−5 and a dust-to-gas mass ratio of 3.2-13 × 10−6. If I Zw 18 is a reasonable analogue of Himiko, then Himiko's dust mass must be around 50,000 solar masses, a factor of 100 below the current upper limit. These numbers are quite uncertain, but if most high-z galaxies are more like Himiko than like the very-high-dust-mass galaxy SDSS J114816.64 + 525150.3 at z ≈ 6, which hosts a quasar, then our prospects for detecting the gas and dust inside such galaxies are much poorer than hitherto anticipated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dust has long been identified as a barrier to measuring inherent galaxy properties. However, the link between dust and attenuation is not straightforward and depends on both the amount of dust and its distribution. Herschel imaging of nearby galaxies undertaken as part of the KINGFISH project allows us to map the dust as seen in emission with unprecedented sensitivity and ~1 kpc resolution. We present here new optical integral field unit spectroscopy for eight of these galaxies that provides complementary 100-200 pc scale maps of the dust attenuation through observation of the reddening in both the Balmer decrement and the stellar continuum. The stellar continuum reddening, which is systematically less than that observed in the Balmer decrement, shows no clear correlation with the dust, suggesting that the distribution of stellar reddening acts as a poor tracer of the overall dust content. The brightest Hii regions are observed to be preferentially located in dusty regions, and we do find a correlation between the Balmer line reddening and the dust mass surface density for which we provide an empirical relation. Some of the high-inclination systems in our sample exhibit high extinction, but we also find evidence that unresolved variations in the dust distribution on scales smaller than 500 pc may contribute to the scatter in this relation. We caution against the use of integrated AV measures to infer global dust properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a detailed study of how the star formation rate (SFR) relates to the interstellar medium (ISM) of M31 at ∼140 pc scales. The SFR is calculated using the far-ultraviolet and 24 μm emission, corrected for the old stellar population in M31. We find a global value for the SFR of 0.25+0.06−0.04M⊙ yr−1 and compare this with the SFR found using the total far-infrared luminosity. There is general agreement in regions where young stars dominate the dust heating. Atomic hydrogen (H i) and molecular gas (traced by carbon monoxide, CO) or the dust mass is used to trace the total gas in the ISM. We show that the global surface densities of SFR and gas mass place M31 among a set of low-SFR galaxies in the plot of Kennicutt. The relationship between SFR and gas surface density is tested in six radial annuli across M31, assuming a power law relationship with index, N. The star formation (SF) law using total gas traced by HI and CO gives a global index of N = 2.03 ± 0.04, with a significant variation with radius; the highest values are observed in the 10 kpc ring. We suggest that this slope is due to HI turning molecular at ΣGas ∼ 10M⊙ pc−2. When looking at H2 regions, we measure a higher mean SFR suggesting a better spatial correlation between H2 and SF.We find N ∼ 0.6 with consistent results throughout the disk—this is at the low end of values found in previous work and argues against a superlinear SF law on small scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We combine new dust continuum observations of the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 4565 in all Herschel/Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (250, 350 and 500 μm) wavebands, obtained as part of the Herschel Reference Survey, and a large set of ancillary data ( Spitzer, Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Galaxy Evolution Explorer) to analyse its dust energy balance. We fit a radiative transfer model for the stars and dust to the optical maps with the fitting algorithm fitskirt. To account for the observed ultraviolet and mid-infrared emission, this initial model was supplemented with both obscured and unobscured star-forming regions. Even though these star-forming complexes provide an additional heating source for the dust, the far-infrared/submillimetre emission long wards of 100 μm is underestimated by a factor of 3-4. This inconsistency in the dust energy budget of NGC 4565 suggests that a sizable fraction (two-thirds) of the total dust reservoir ( Md ∼ 2.9 × 108 M⊙) consists of a clumpy distribution with no associated young stellar sources. The distribution of those dense dust clouds would be in such a way that they remain unresolved in current far-infrared/submillimetre observations and hardly contribute to the attenuation at optical wavelengths. More than two-thirds of the dust heating in NGC 4565 is powered by the old stellar population, with localized embedded sources supplying the remaining dust heating in NGC 4565. The results from this detailed dust energy balance study in NGC 4565 are consistent with that of similar analyses of other edge-on spirals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare atomic gas, molecular gas, and the recent star formation rate (SFR) inferred from Hα in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). By using infrared dust emission and local dust-to-gas ratios, we construct a map of molecular gas that is independent of CO emission. This allows us to disentangle conversion factor effects from the impact of metallicity on the formation and star formation efficiency of molecular gas. On scales of 200 pc to 1 kpc (where the distributions of H2 and star formation match well) we find a characteristic molecular gas depletion time of Due to image rights restrictions, multiple line equation(s) cannot be graphically displayed. ~ 1.6 Gyr, similar to that observed in the molecule-rich parts of large spiral galaxies on similar spatial scales. This depletion time shortens on much larger scales to ~0.6 Gyr because of the presence of a diffuse Hα component, and lengthens on much smaller scales to ~7.5 Gyr because the Hα and H2 distributions differ in detail. We estimate the systematic uncertainties in our dust-based Due to image rights restrictions, multiple line equation(s) cannot be graphically displayed. measurement to be a factor of ~2-3. We suggest that the impact of metallicity on the physics of star formation in molecular gas has at most this magnitude, rather than the factor of ~40 suggested by the ratio of SFR to CO emission. The relation between SFR and neutral (H2 + HI) gas surface density is steep, with a power-law index ≈2.2±0.1, similar to that observed in the outer disks of large spiral galaxies. At a fixed total gas surface density the SMC has a 5-10 times lower molecular gas fraction (and star formation rate) than large spiral galaxies. We explore the ability of the recent models by Krumholz et al. and Ostriker et al. to reproduce our observations. We find that to explain our data at all spatial scales requires a low fraction of cold, gravitationally bound gas in the SMC. We explore a combined model that incorporates both large-scale thermal and dynamical equilibrium and cloud-scale photodissociation region structure and find that it reproduces our data well, as well as predicting a fraction of cold atomic gas very similar to that observed in the SMC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using new far-infrared imaging from the Herschel Space Observatory with ancillary data from ultraviolet (UV) to submillimeter wavelengths, we estimate the total emission from dust and stars of 62 nearby galaxies in the KINGFISH survey in a way that is as empirical and model independent as possible. We collect and exploit these data in order to measure from the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) precisely how much stellar radiation is intercepted and re-radiated by dust, and how this quantity varies with galaxy properties. By including SPIRE data, we are more sensitive to emission from cold dust grains than previous analyses at shorter wavelengths, allowing for more accurate estimates of dust temperatures and masses. The dust/stellar flux ratio, which we measure by integrating the SEDs, has a range of nearly three decades (from 10-22 to 100.5). The inclusion of SPIRE data shows that estimates based on data not reaching these far-IR wavelengths are biased low by 17% on average. We find that the dust/stellar flux ratio varies with morphology and total infrared (IR) luminosity, with dwarf galaxies having faint luminosities, spirals having relatively high dust/stellar ratios and IR luminosities, and some early types having low dust/stellar ratios. We also find that dust/stellar flux ratios are related to gas-phase metallicity (log(fdust/f*) = -0.66 ± 0.08 and -0.22 ± 0.12 for metal-poor and intermediate-metallicity galaxies, respectively), while the dust/stellar mass ratios are less so (differing by ≈0.2 dex); the more metal-rich galaxies span a much wider range of the flux ratios. In addition, the substantial scatter between dust/stellar flux and dust/stellar mass indicates that the former is a poor proxy of the latter. Comparing the dust/stellar flux ratios and dust temperatures, we also show that early types tend to have slightly warmer temperatures (by up to 5 K) than spiral galaxies, which may be due to more intense interstellar radiation fields, or possibly to different dust grain compositions. Finally, we show that early types and early-type spirals have a strong correlation between the dust/stellar flux ratio and specific star formation rate, which suggests that the relatively bright far-IR emission of some of these galaxies is due to ongoing (if limited) star formation as well as to the radiation field from older stars, which is heating the dust grains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the far-infrared (IR) dust emission for 20 local star forming galaxies from the Key Insights on Nearby Galaxies: A Far-IR Survey with Herschel (KINGFISH) sample. We model the far-IR/submillimeter spectral energy distribution (SED) using images from Spitzer Space Telescope and Herschel Space Observatory. We calculate the cold dust temperature (Tc) and emissivity (β) on a pixel by pixel basis (where each pixel ranges from 0.1 to 3 kpc2) using a two-temperature modified blackbody fitting routine. Our fitting method allows us to investigate the resolved nature of temperature and emissivity variations by modeling from the galaxy centers to the outskirts (physical scales of ∼15-50 kpc, depending on the size of the galaxy). We fit each SED in two ways: (1) fit Tc and β simultaneously, (2) hold β constant and fit Tc. We compare Tc and β with star formation rates (calculated from LHα and L24 μm), the luminosity of the old stellar population (traced through L3.6 μm), and the dust mass surface density (traced by 500 μm luminosity, L500). We find a significant trend between SFR/L500 and Tc, implying that the flux of hard UV photons relative to the amount of dust is significantly contributing to the heating of the cold, or diffuse, dust component. We also see a trend between L3.6/L500 and β, indicating that the old stellar population contributes to the heating at far-IR/submillimeter wavelengths. Finally, we find that when β is held constant, Tc exhibits a strongly decreasing radial trend, illustrating that the shape of the far-IR SED is changing radially through a galaxy, thus confirming on a sample almost double in size the trends observed in Galametz et al. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the emission by dust and stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, a pair of low-metallicity nearby galaxies, as traced by their spatially resolved spectral energy distributions. This project combines HerschelSpace Observatory PACS and SPIRE far-infrared photometry with other data at infrared and optical wavelengths (the data were obtained as part of the HERschel Inventory of The Agents of Galaxy Evolution survey; PI: M. Meixner). We build maps of dust, stellar luminosity, and mass of both Magellanic Clouds, and analyze the spatial distribution of dust/stellar luminosity and mass ratios. These ratios vary considerably throughout the galaxies, generally between the range 0.01 ⩽ Ldust/L* ⩽ 0.6 and 10–4 ⩽ Mdust/M* ⩽ 4 × 10–3. We observe that the dust/stellar ratios depend on the interstellar medium environment, such as the distance from currently or previously star-forming regions, and on the intensity of the interstellar radiation field. In addition, we construct star formation rate (SFR) maps, and find that the SFR is correlated with the dust/stellar luminosity and dust temperature in both galaxies, demonstrating the relation between star formation, dust emission, and heating, though these correlations exhibit substantial scatter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present late-time optical and mid-infrared observations of the Type II supernova 2003gd in the galaxy NGC 628. Mid-infrared excesses consistent with cooling dust in the ejecta are observed 499 to 678 days after outburst and are accompanied by increasing optical extinction and growing asymmetries in the emission-line profiles. Radiative-transfer models show that up to 0.02 solar masses of dust has formed within the ejecta, beginning as early as 250 days after outburst. These observations show that dust formation in supernova ejecta can be efficient and that massive-star supernovae could have been major dust producers throughout the history of the universe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]