The Panchromatic STARBurst IRregular Dwarf Survey (STARBIRDS) Data

TL;DR

The STARBIRDS archive compiles multi-wavelength, calibrated images of 20 nearby dwarf galaxies, facilitating comprehensive star formation studies through publicly accessible, homogenized data from GALEX, HST, and Spitzer.

Contribution

This work creates the first publicly available, multi-wavelength, homogenized data archive for nearby dwarf galaxies, integrating observations from multiple telescopes.

Findings

Provides calibrated, background-subtracted images across multiple wavelengths.

Includes images with contamination masked and images convolved to common resolution.

Enables detailed star formation analysis in low mass systems.

Abstract

Understanding star formation in resolved low mass systems requires the integration of information obtained from observations at different wavelengths. We have combined new and archival multi-wavelength observations on a set of 20 nearby starburst and post-starburst dwarf galaxies to create a data archive of calibrated, homogeneously reduced images. Named the panchromatic "STARBurst IRregular Dwarf Survey" (STARBIRDS) archive, the data are publicly accessible through the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST). This first release of the archive includes images from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer Telescope (GALEX), the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and the Spitzer Space Telescope (Spitzer) MIPS instrument. The datasets include flux calibrated, background subtracted images, that are registered to the same world coordinate system. Additionally, a set of images are available which are all cropped to match the HST field of view. The GALEX and Spitzer images are available with foreground and background contamination masked. Larger GALEX images extending to 4 times the optical extent of the galaxies are also available. Finally, HST images convolved with a 5 arcsec point spread function and rebinned to the larger pixel scale of the GALEX and Spitzer 24 micron images are provided. Future additions are planned that will include data at other wavelengths such as Spitzer IRAC, ground based Halpha, Chandra X-ray, and Green Bank Telescope HI imaging.