AAS 207th Meeting, 8-12 January 2006
Session 138 Galaxy Interactions and Star Formation
Poster, Wednesday, 9:20am-6:30pm, January 11, 2006, Exhibit Hall

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[138.07] Infrared dust emission and star formation in the outer disk of M51

M.D. Thornley (Bucknell University), J. Braine, E. Gardan (Observatoire de Bordeaux)

We present an analysis of faint infrared emission features seen at R~R25 in new Spitzer Space Telescope images of M51. They are associated with relatively cool atomic hydrogen in the outer disk and tidal tail of M51. The infrared colors of these features are consistent with the colors of dust associated with star formation in the bright disk. However, the star formation efficiency (as a ratio of star formation rate to neutral gas mass) implied in the outer disk is measurably lower than that in the bright disk of M51, assuming a similar relationship between infrared emission and star formation rate in the inner and outer disks.


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