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V. Buat, A. Boselli (LAM, Marseille, France), C. Bonfanti, G. Gavazzi (Universitadegli Studi di Milano, Italy)
How much of the light produced in galaxies is absorbed by the dust? To answer to this question is crucial to understand the observations at uv-optical and far-infrared wavelengths (rest-frame) of nearby and distant galaxies. By now, the estimate of the extinction in starburst galaxies is almost exclusively made with the Calzetti's extinction curve based on a sample of~40 nearby galaxies whose the central starburst has been observed by IUE. It is not clear if this sample is really representative of all starforming galaxies, especially at high redshift.
From a sample of nearby galaxies with an intense star formation observed photometrically in far-uv and far-infrared and spectroscopically in visible we compare the dust extinction in Halpha and far-uv with the far-infrared emission of the galaxies and test the various models of dust extinction. The properties of our sample are compared to those of the Calzetti's one.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: veronique.buat@astrsp-mrs.fr