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The Resolved Stellar Populations in the LEGUS Galaxies1
- Source :
- The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, The Astrophysical Journal. Supplement Series, 235(1):23. IOP Publishing Ltd., Astrophysical journal supplement series, 2018, Vol.235(1), pp.23 [Peer Reviewed Journal]
- Publication Year :
- 2018
-
Abstract
- The Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) is a multiwavelength Cycle 21 Treasury program on the Hubble Space Telescope. It studied 50 nearby star-forming galaxies in 5 bands from the near-UV to the I-band, combining new Wide Field Camera 3 observations with archival Advanced Camera for Surveys data. LEGUS was designed to investigate how star formation occurs and develops on both small and large scales, and how it relates to the galactic environments. In this paper we present the photometric catalogs for all the apparently single stars identified in the 50 LEGUS galaxies. Photometric catalogs and mosaicked images for all filters are available for download. We present optical and near-UV color-magnitude diagrams for all the galaxies. For each galaxy we derived the distance from the tip of the red giant branch. We then used the NUV color-magnitude diagrams to identify stars more massive than 14 M ☉, and compared their number with the number of massive stars expected from the GALEX FUV luminosity. Our analysis shows that the fraction of massive stars forming in star clusters and stellar associations is about constant with the star formation rate. This lack of a relation suggests that the timescale for evaporation of unbound structures is comparable or longer than 10 Myr. At low star formation rates this translates to an excess of mass in clustered environments as compared to model predictions of cluster evolution, suggesting that a significant fraction of stars form in unbound systems. Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.
- Subjects :
- Hertzsprung–Russell diagram
Russell and C-M diagram
Astrophysics
Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
01 natural sciences
Advanced Camera for Surveys
symbols.namesake
galaxies: star clusters: general
galaxies: star formation
galaxies: stellar content
Hertzsprung
Russell and C-M diagrams
stars: formation
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science
0103 physical sciences
Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
010303 astronomy & astrophysics
Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics
Physics
010308 nuclear & particles physics
Star formation
Galaxy
Red-giant branch
Stars
Star cluster
symbols
Hertzsprung-Russell and C-M diagrams
Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Wide Field Camera 3
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00670049
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, The Astrophysical Journal. Supplement Series, 235(1):23. IOP Publishing Ltd., Astrophysical journal supplement series, 2018, Vol.235(1), pp.23 [Peer Reviewed Journal]
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....0f29926e18a8954dd3c46443de2be30f