Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) With the Hubble Space Telescope. I. Survey Description

Calzetti, D.; Lee, J.; Sabbi, E.; Adamo, A.; Smith, L.J.; Andrews, J.E.; Ubeda, L.; Bright, S.N.; Thilker, D.; Aloisi, A.; Brown, T.M.; Chandar, R.; Christian, C.; Cignoni, M.; Clayton, G.C.; da Silva, R.; de Mink, S.E.; Dobbs, C.; Elmegreen, B.G.; Elmegreen, D.M.; Evans, A.S.; Fumagalli, M.; Gallagher, J.S.; Gouliermis, D.A.; Grebel, E.K.; Herrero, A.; Hunter, D.A.; Johnson, K.E.; Kennicutt, R.C.; Kim, H.; Krumholz, M.R.; Lennon, D.; Levay, K.; Martin, C.; Nair, P.; Nota, A.; Östlin, G.; Pellerin, A.; Prieto, J.; Regan, M.W.; Ryon, J.E.; Schaerer, D.; Schiminovich, D.; Tosi, M.; Van Dyk, S.D.; Walterbos, R.; Whitmore, B.C.; Wofford, A.

doi:10.1088/0004-6256/149/2/51

Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) With the Hubble Space Telescope. I. Survey Description

Calzetti, D.; Lee, J.; Sabbi, E.; Adamo, A.; Smith, L.J.; Andrews, J.E.; Ubeda, L.; Bright, S.N.; Thilker, D.; Aloisi, A.; Brown, T.M.; Chandar, R.; Christian, C.; Cignoni, M.; Clayton, G.C.; da Silva, R.; de Mink, S.E.; Dobbs, C.; Elmegreen, B.G.; Elmegreen, D.M.; Evans, A.S.; Fumagalli, M.; Gallagher, J.S.; Gouliermis, D.A.; Grebel, E.K.; Herrero, A.; Hunter, D.A.; Johnson, K.E.; Kennicutt, R.C.; Kim, H.; Krumholz, M.R.; Lennon, D.; Levay, K.; Martin, C.; Nair, P.; Nota, A.; Östlin, G.; Pellerin, A.; Prieto, J.; Regan, M.W.; Ryon, J.E.; Schaerer, D.; Schiminovich, D.; Tosi, M.; Van Dyk, S.D.; Walterbos, R.; Whitmore, B.C.; Wofford, A.

Authors

D. Calzetti

J. Lee

E. Sabbi

A. Adamo

L.J. Smith

J.E. Andrews

L. Ubeda

S.N. Bright

D. Thilker

A. Aloisi

T.M. Brown

R. Chandar

C. Christian

M. Cignoni

G.C. Clayton

R. da Silva

S.E. de Mink

C. Dobbs

B.G. Elmegreen

D.M. Elmegreen

A.S. Evans

Professor Michele Fumagalli michele.fumagalli@durham.ac.uk
Academic Visitor

J.S. Gallagher

D.A. Gouliermis

E.K. Grebel

A. Herrero

D.A. Hunter

K.E. Johnson

R.C. Kennicutt

H. Kim

M.R. Krumholz

D. Lennon

K. Levay

C. Martin

P. Nair

A. Nota

G. Östlin

A. Pellerin

J. Prieto

M.W. Regan

J.E. Ryon

D. Schaerer

D. Schiminovich

M. Tosi

S.D. Van Dyk

R. Walterbos

B.C. Whitmore

A. Wofford

Abstract

The Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) is a Cycle 21 Treasury program on the Hubble Space Telescope aimed at the investigation of star formation and its relation with galactic environment in nearby galaxies, from the scales of individual stars to those of ~kiloparsec-size clustered structures. Five-band imaging from the near-ultraviolet to the I band with the Wide-Field Camera 3 (WFC3), plus parallel optical imaging with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), is being collected for selected pointings of 50 galaxies within the local 12 Mpc. The filters used for the observations with the WFC3 are F275W(λ2704 Å), F336W(λ3355 Å), F438W(λ4325 Å), F555W(λ5308 Å), and F814W(λ8024 Å); the parallel observations with the ACS use the filters F435W(λ4328 Å), F606W(λ5921 Å), and F814W(λ8057 Å). The multiband images are yielding accurate recent (lesssim50 Myr) star formation histories from resolved massive stars and the extinction-corrected ages and masses of star clusters and associations. The extensive inventories of massive stars and clustered systems will be used to investigate the spatial and temporal evolution of star formation within galaxies. This will, in turn, inform theories of galaxy evolution and improve the understanding of the physical underpinning of the gas–star formation relation and the nature of star formation at high redshift. This paper describes the survey, its goals and observational strategy, and the initial scientific results. Because LEGUS will provide a reference survey and a foundation for future observations with the James Webb Space Telescope and with ALMA, a large number of data products are planned for delivery to the community.

Citation

Calzetti, D., Lee, J., Sabbi, E., Adamo, A., Smith, L., Andrews, J., …Wofford, A. (2015). Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) With the Hubble Space Telescope. I. Survey Description. Astronomical Journal, 149(2), Article 51. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/149/2/51

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Oct 25, 2014
Online Publication Date	Jan 15, 2015
Publication Date	Feb 1, 2015
Deposit Date	Jan 16, 2015
Publicly Available Date	Jan 16, 2015
Journal	Astronomical Journal
Print ISSN	0004-6256
Electronic ISSN	1538-3881
Publisher	IOP Publishing
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	149
Issue	2
Article Number	51
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/149/2/51
Keywords	Galaxies: general, Galaxies: star clusters: general, Galaxies: star formation, Galaxies: stellar content, Ultraviolet: galaxies, Ultraviolet: stars.