Dissecting Galaxy colors with Galex, SDSS, and Spitzer

B. D. Johnson; D. Schiminovich; M. Seibert; M. A. Treyer; S. Charlot; T. M. Heckman; D. C. Martin; S. Salim; G. Kauffmann; L. Bianchi; J. Donas; P. G. Friedman; Y. W. Lee; B. F. Madore; B. Milliard; P. Morrissey; S. G. Neff; R. M. Rich; A. S. Szalay; K. Forster; T. A. Barlow; T. Conrow; T. Small; T. K. Wyder

doi:10.1086/505741

Dissecting Galaxy colors with Galex, SDSS, and Spitzer

B. D. Johnson, D. Schiminovich, M. Seibert, M. A. Treyer, S. Charlot, T. M. Heckman, D. C. Martin, S. Salim, G. Kauffmann, L. Bianchi, J. Donas, P. G. Friedman, Y. W. Lee, B. F. Madore, B. Milliard, P. Morrissey, S. G. Neff, R. M. Rich, A. S. Szalay, K. ForsterT. A. Barlow, T. Conrow, T. Small, T. K. Wyder

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We combine data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), and the Spitzer Space Telescope to create a sample of galaxies observed homogeneously from the UV to the far-IR. This sample, consisting of ∼460 galaxies observed spectroscopically by the SDSS, provides us with a multiwavelength (0.15-24 mm) view of obscured and unobscured star formation in nearby (z ≤ 0.3) galaxies with star formation rates (SFRs) ranging from 0.01 to 100 M·yr^-1. We calculate a robust dust measure from the infraredto-UV ratio (or infrared excess [IRX]) and explore the influence of star formation history (SFH) on the dust-UV color relation (i.e., the IRX-β relation). We find that the UV colors of galaxies are only weakly dependent on their SFH as measured by the 4000 break. However, we find that the contributions of dust and SFH are distinguishable when colors at widely separated wavelengths (e.g., 0.23-3.6 mm) are introduced. We show this explicitly by recasting the IRX-b relation as a more general IRX-SFH-color relation, which we examine in different projections. We also determine simple fits to this relation.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	L109-L112
Journal	Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume	644
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1086/505741
Publication status	Published - 2006 Jun 20

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The MPA/JHU collaboration for SDSS studies has very generously made their catalogs publicly available. The publicly available Spitzer data obtained and reduced by the SWIRE team have been essential to this work. B. D. J. would like to thank Eric Bell for illuminating comments. We gratefully acknowledge NASA’s support for construction, operation, and science analysis for the GALEX mission, developed in cooperation with the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiale of France and the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology. B. D. J. was supported by NASA GSRP grant NNG05GO43H.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2006. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

Access to Document

10.1086/505741

Cite this

Johnson, B. D., Schiminovich, D., Seibert, M., Treyer, M. A., Charlot, S., Heckman, T. M., Martin, D. C., Salim, S., Kauffmann, G., Bianchi, L., Donas, J., Friedman, P. G., Lee, Y. W., Madore, B. F., Milliard, B., Morrissey, P., Neff, S. G., Rich, R. M., Szalay, A. S., ... Wyder, T. K. (2006). Dissecting Galaxy colors with Galex, SDSS, and Spitzer. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 644(2), L109-L112. https://doi.org/10.1086/505741

@article{12df81038c284ee192227d5f5f4bb384,

title = "Dissecting Galaxy colors with Galex, SDSS, and Spitzer",

abstract = "We combine data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), and the Spitzer Space Telescope to create a sample of galaxies observed homogeneously from the UV to the far-IR. This sample, consisting of ∼460 galaxies observed spectroscopically by the SDSS, provides us with a multiwavelength (0.15-24 mm) view of obscured and unobscured star formation in nearby (z ≤ 0.3) galaxies with star formation rates (SFRs) ranging from 0.01 to 100 M·yr-1. We calculate a robust dust measure from the infraredto-UV ratio (or infrared excess [IRX]) and explore the influence of star formation history (SFH) on the dust-UV color relation (i.e., the IRX-β relation). We find that the UV colors of galaxies are only weakly dependent on their SFH as measured by the 4000 break. However, we find that the contributions of dust and SFH are distinguishable when colors at widely separated wavelengths (e.g., 0.23-3.6 mm) are introduced. We show this explicitly by recasting the IRX-b relation as a more general IRX-SFH-color relation, which we examine in different projections. We also determine simple fits to this relation.",

author = "Johnson, {B. D.} and D. Schiminovich and M. Seibert and Treyer, {M. A.} and S. Charlot and Heckman, {T. M.} and Martin, {D. C.} and S. Salim and G. Kauffmann and L. Bianchi and J. Donas and Friedman, {P. G.} and Lee, {Y. W.} and Madore, {B. F.} and B. Milliard and P. Morrissey and Neff, {S. G.} and Rich, {R. M.} and Szalay, {A. S.} and K. Forster and Barlow, {T. A.} and T. Conrow and T. Small and Wyder, {T. K.}",

note = "Funding Information: The MPA/JHU collaboration for SDSS studies has very generously made their catalogs publicly available. The publicly available Spitzer data obtained and reduced by the SWIRE team have been essential to this work. B. D. J. would like to thank Eric Bell for illuminating comments. We gratefully acknowledge NASA{\textquoteright}s support for construction, operation, and science analysis for the GALEX mission, developed in cooperation with the Centre National d{\textquoteright}Etudes Spatiale of France and the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology. B. D. J. was supported by NASA GSRP grant NNG05GO43H. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2006. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.",

year = "2006",

month = jun,

day = "20",

doi = "10.1086/505741",

language = "English",

volume = "644",

pages = "L109--L112",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal Letters",

issn = "2041-8205",

publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",

number = "2",

}

Johnson, BD, Schiminovich, D, Seibert, M, Treyer, MA, Charlot, S, Heckman, TM, Martin, DC, Salim, S, Kauffmann, G, Bianchi, L, Donas, J, Friedman, PG, Lee, YW, Madore, BF, Milliard, B, Morrissey, P, Neff, SG, Rich, RM, Szalay, AS, Forster, K, Barlow, TA, Conrow, T, Small, T & Wyder, TK 2006, 'Dissecting Galaxy colors with Galex, SDSS, and Spitzer', Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 644, no. 2, pp. L109-L112. https://doi.org/10.1086/505741

TY - JOUR

T1 - Dissecting Galaxy colors with Galex, SDSS, and Spitzer

AU - Johnson, B. D.

AU - Schiminovich, D.

AU - Seibert, M.

AU - Treyer, M. A.

AU - Charlot, S.

AU - Heckman, T. M.

AU - Martin, D. C.

AU - Salim, S.

AU - Kauffmann, G.

AU - Bianchi, L.

AU - Donas, J.

AU - Friedman, P. G.

AU - Lee, Y. W.

AU - Madore, B. F.

AU - Milliard, B.

AU - Morrissey, P.

AU - Neff, S. G.

AU - Rich, R. M.

AU - Szalay, A. S.

AU - Forster, K.

AU - Barlow, T. A.

AU - Conrow, T.

AU - Small, T.

AU - Wyder, T. K.

N1 - Funding Information: The MPA/JHU collaboration for SDSS studies has very generously made their catalogs publicly available. The publicly available Spitzer data obtained and reduced by the SWIRE team have been essential to this work. B. D. J. would like to thank Eric Bell for illuminating comments. We gratefully acknowledge NASA’s support for construction, operation, and science analysis for the GALEX mission, developed in cooperation with the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiale of France and the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology. B. D. J. was supported by NASA GSRP grant NNG05GO43H. Publisher Copyright: © 2006. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

PY - 2006/6/20

Y1 - 2006/6/20

N2 - We combine data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), and the Spitzer Space Telescope to create a sample of galaxies observed homogeneously from the UV to the far-IR. This sample, consisting of ∼460 galaxies observed spectroscopically by the SDSS, provides us with a multiwavelength (0.15-24 mm) view of obscured and unobscured star formation in nearby (z ≤ 0.3) galaxies with star formation rates (SFRs) ranging from 0.01 to 100 M·yr-1. We calculate a robust dust measure from the infraredto-UV ratio (or infrared excess [IRX]) and explore the influence of star formation history (SFH) on the dust-UV color relation (i.e., the IRX-β relation). We find that the UV colors of galaxies are only weakly dependent on their SFH as measured by the 4000 break. However, we find that the contributions of dust and SFH are distinguishable when colors at widely separated wavelengths (e.g., 0.23-3.6 mm) are introduced. We show this explicitly by recasting the IRX-b relation as a more general IRX-SFH-color relation, which we examine in different projections. We also determine simple fits to this relation.

AB - We combine data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), and the Spitzer Space Telescope to create a sample of galaxies observed homogeneously from the UV to the far-IR. This sample, consisting of ∼460 galaxies observed spectroscopically by the SDSS, provides us with a multiwavelength (0.15-24 mm) view of obscured and unobscured star formation in nearby (z ≤ 0.3) galaxies with star formation rates (SFRs) ranging from 0.01 to 100 M·yr-1. We calculate a robust dust measure from the infraredto-UV ratio (or infrared excess [IRX]) and explore the influence of star formation history (SFH) on the dust-UV color relation (i.e., the IRX-β relation). We find that the UV colors of galaxies are only weakly dependent on their SFH as measured by the 4000 break. However, we find that the contributions of dust and SFH are distinguishable when colors at widely separated wavelengths (e.g., 0.23-3.6 mm) are introduced. We show this explicitly by recasting the IRX-b relation as a more general IRX-SFH-color relation, which we examine in different projections. We also determine simple fits to this relation.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77955692599&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77955692599&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1086/505741

DO - 10.1086/505741

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:77955692599

VL - 644

SP - L109-L112

JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters

JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters

SN - 2041-8205

IS - 2

ER -

Dissecting Galaxy colors with Galex, SDSS, and Spitzer

Abstract

Bibliographical note

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this