Nearby Galaxies as Revealed by the Spitzer Space Telescope

 

The Spitzer Space Telescope is providing dramatic new insights into star formation and the dusty interstellar media of galaxies.  The Spitzer images and spectra, when combined with observations at ultraviolet and visible wavelengths, provide pixel-resolved information on the dust extinction and star formation rates (SFRs) across galaxies.  This in turn is producing refined multi-wavelength diagnostics of SFRs as well as new physical insights into the physical regulation and triggering of star formation on kiloparsec to galactic scales.

This talk will present results from the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS), a comprehensive, multi-wavelength Legacy study of 75 nearby galaxies which span the range of types, luminosities, and infrared properties found in the local universe.  As with all of Spitzer Legacy projects, SINGS is designed to provide a foundation for future archival investigations, and the talk will highlight the richness of the dataset for a wide range of astrophysical applications.

 

 

Robert Kennicutt