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S. Hameed (Smith College/UMass), D. Thilker (NRAO), R. Walterbos (NMSU), N. Devereux (ERAU), C. Hoopes (JHU), J. Kenney (Yale University)
We are currently conducting one of the most comprehensive studies of HII regions in spiral galaxies. The STARFORM survey includes H-alpha imaging and HII region luminosity function analysis for a complete, magnitude-limited sample of 150 spiral galaxies (types Sa-Scd) that are located between 10 and 25 Mpc and have inclinations < 65 degrees. Our all-sky sample includes 31 Sa-Sab, 51 Sb-Sbc, and 68 Sc-Scd galaxies. We have already obtained H-alpha images for 60 spirals with the CTIO 1.5m telescope. Here we present the general properties of all HII regions detected in the southern hemisphere Sa-Sab galaxies drawn from our sample. Our luminosity function analysis is based on direct comparison with predictions from a population synthesis code which accounts for stochasticity in sparsely populated star clusters. We have just started to implement an observationally constrained correction for source blending by using archival HST imagery to quantify small-scale clustering properties of independently ionized HII regions. Salient points regarding this crucial procedure will be outlined.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: shameed@earth.ast.smith.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.