UV Star Formation Rates in the Local Universe

Understand

We measure star formation rates of ~50,000 optically-selected galaxies in the local universe (z~0.1), spanning a range from gas-rich dwarfs to massive ellipticals.

• We obtain dust-corrected SFRs by fitting the GALEX (UV) and SDSS (optical) photometry to a library of population synthesis models that include dust attenuation.
• For star-forming galaxies, our UV-based SFRs compare remarkably well with those derived from SDSS H alpha.
• Deviations from perfect agreement between these two methods are due to differences in the dust attenuation estimates.