Related papers: Current Star Formation in the Outer Rings among Ea…
We present sub-arcsecond resolution ground-based near-infrared images of the central regions of a sample of twelve barred galaxies with circumnuclear star formation activity, which is organized in ring-like regions typically one kiloparsec…
We report preliminary results of the characterization of bulge and inner disk stellar populations for 8 nearby spiral galaxies using Gemini/GMOS. The long-slit spectra extend out to 1-2 disk scale lengths with S/N/Ang > 50. Two different…
The nuclear stellar disc (NSD) is a flat dense stellar structure at the heart of the Milky Way. Recent work has shown that analogous structures are common in the nuclei of external spiral galaxies, where there is evidence of an age gradient…
We present a Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) imaging study that characterizes the star cluster component of nearby galaxy outer disks (beyond the optical radius R_25). Expanding on the pilot project of Herbert-Fort et al. (2009), we present…
We use long-slit spectroscopy from Moran et al. to study the radial dependence of the recent star formation histories of nearby galaxies with stellar masses greater than 10^10M_sun. We fit stellar population models to the combination of…
Star formation in starbursts appears to be biased toward compact clusters, with up to 20% of all stars formed in them. Observations with HST show that many of these clusters have luminosities (-9 > Mv > -16), UBVI colors, and half-light…
Since the first massive planet in a short period orbit was discovered, the question arised how such an object could have formed. There are basically two formation scenarios: migration due to planet-disk or planet-planet interaction. Which…
Breaks in the surface brightness profiles in the outer regions of galactic discs are thought to have formed by various internal and external processes, and by studying the breaks we aim to better understand what processes are responsible…
We study the relationship between the field star formation and cluster formation properties in a large sample of nearby dwarf galaxies. We use optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope and from ground-based telescopes to derive the ages…
Many early-type galaxies are detected at 24 to 160 micron but the emission is usually dominated by an AGN or heating from the evolved stellar population. Here we present MIPS observations of a sample of elliptical and lenticular galaxies…
The prevalence of substructures in $\sim1-10$ Myr old protoplanetary disks, which are often linked to planet formation, has raised the question of how early such features form, and as a corollary, how early planet formation begins. Here we…
We analyse the current build-up of stellar mass within the disks and bulges of nearby galaxies through a comparison of the spatial distributions of forming and old stellar populations. H alpha and R-band imaging are used to determine the…
Planets are a natural byproduct of the stellar formation process, resulting from local aggregations of material within the disks surrounding young stars. Whereas signatures of gas-giant planets at large orbital separations have been…
Bressert et al. recently showed that the surface density distribution of low-mass, young stellar objects (YSOs) in the solar neighbourhood is approximately log-normal. The authors conclude that the star formation process is hierarchical and…
We present a multi-wavelength study of the young stellar population in the Cygnus-X DR15 region. We studied young stars forming or recently formed at and around the tip of a prominent molecular pillar and an infrared dark cloud. Using a…
The frequency of discs around young stars, a key parameter for understanding planet formation, is most readily determined in young stellar clusters where many relatively coeval stars are located in close proximity. Observational studies…
We investigate the morphological and physical properties of ring galaxies residing within cosmic voids. Using void catalogs from VoidFinder, ring candidates identified via the Galaxy Zoo 2 decision tree, and morphological classifications…
A question central to understanding the origin of our solar system is: how do planets form in circumstellar disks around young stars? Because of the complex nature of the physical processes involved, multi-wavelength observations of large…
An accurate estimation of the star formation-related properties of galaxies is crucial for understanding the evolution of galaxies. In galaxies, ultraviolet (UV) light emitted by recently formed massive stars is attenuated by dust, which is…
As part of a large Spitzer/MIPS GTO program, we have searched for infrared excesses due to debris disks toward 26 FGK field stars known from radial velocity (RV) studies to have one or more planets. While none of these stars show excesses…