Assigned ID: 171 ----- Attempting Submission 1 (Thu Mar 06 18:58:49 GMT 2008) ----- We propose to use the source lists developed as part of the Hubble Legacy Archive (HLA: Data Release 1 - February 8, 2008) to obtain a large (N ~50 galaxies for multi-wavelength, N ~500 galaxies for ACS F814W), uniform (ACS + WFPC2 + NICMOS: DAOphot used for object detection) database of super star clusters in nearby star-forming galaxies in order to address two fundamental astronomical questions: 1) To what degree is the cluster luminosity (and mass) function of star clusters universal ? 2) What fraction of super star clusters are "missing" in optical studies (i.e., are hidden by dust)? This database will also support comparisons with new Monte-Carlo simulations that have independently been developed in the past few years by co-I Larsen and PI Whitmore, and will be used to test the Whitmore, Chandar, Fall (2007) framework designed to understand the demographics of star clusters in all star forming galaxies. The catalogs will increase the number of galaxies with measured mass and luminosity functions by an order of magnitude, and will provide a powerful new tool for comparative studies, both ours and the community's.

UNRESOLVED STELLAR POPULATIONS AND GALAXY STRUCTURE 12 98000.00 false 0.0 0.0 false false false false false SUPPORTED