Evolution of the Halpha luminosity function

Understand

The Smithsonian Hectospec Lensing Survey (SHELS) is a window on the star formation history over the last 4 Gyr.

• SHELS is a spectroscopically complete survey for Rtot < 20.3 over 4 square degrees.
• We use the 10k spectra to select a sample of pure star forming galaxies based on their Halpha emission line.
• We use the spectroscopy to determine extinction corrections for individual galaxies and to remove active galaxies in order to reduce systematic uncertainties.