Speaker
Lea Hagen
(Penn State University)
Description
The Swift Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) is uniquely suited to study star
formation and dust extinction in nearby galaxies. I will discuss results from the
Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and M33, for which we have unprecedented
observations in three near-UV bands from 1700-3000 A at 2.5" resolution. We
combine our UV imaging with archival optical and infrared data to model the
spectral energy distributions of individual regions of each galaxy, simultaneously
fitting for the dust extinction curve properties, total dust, stellar mass, and age.
We have created the first-ever maps of the UV dust extinction curve, which show
previously-unconfirmed spatial variation: both the slope and 2175 Angstrom bump
vary considerably over the face of both the SMC and M33. In addition, we have
measured a detailed star formation history over the previous ~300 Myr. These
results have strong implications for studies of star formation and galaxy evolution
at both low and high redshift.
Primary author
Lea Hagen
(Penn State University)
Co-authors
Caryl Gronwall
(Penn State University)
Erik Hoversten
(n/a)
Michael Siegel
(Penn State University)
Stefan Immler
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
