We report the large effort that is producing comprehensive high-level young star cluster (YSC) catalogs for a significant fraction of galaxies observed with the Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) Hubble treasury program. We present the methodology developed to extract cluster positions, verify their genuine nature, produce multiband photometry (from NUV to NIR), and derive their physical properties via spectral energy distribution fitting analyses. We use the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 628 as a test case for demonstrating the impact that LEGUS will have on our understanding of the formation and evolution of YSCs and compact stellar associations within their host galaxy. Our analysis of the cluster luminosity function from the UV to the NIR finds a steepening at the bright end and at all wavelengths suggesting a dearth of luminous clusters. The cluster mass function of NGC 628The 1 is consistent with a power-law distribution of slopes~-2 and a truncation of a few times 10 5  M . After their formation, YSCs and compact associations follow different evolutionary paths. YSCs survive for a longer time frame, confirming their being potentially bound systems. Associations disappear on timescales comparable to hierarchically organized star-forming regions, suggesting that they are expanding systems. We find massindependent cluster disruption in the inner region of NGC 628, while in the outer part of the galaxy there is little or no disruption. We observe faster disruption rates for low mass (10 4  M ) clusters, suggesting that a massdependent component is necessary to fully describe the YSC disruption process in NGC 628.Astrophysical Journal, 841:131 (26pp), 2017 June 1 https:

The Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) is a Cycle 21 Treasury program on the Hubble Space Telescope, aimed at the investigation of star formation and its relation with galactic environment in nearby galaxies, from the scales of individual stars to those of ∼kpc-size clustered structures. Five-band imaging, from the near-ultraviolet to the I-band, with the Wide Field Camera 3, plus parallel optical imaging with the Advanced Camera for Surveys, is being collected for selected pointings of 50 galaxies within the local 12 Mpc. The filters used for the observations with the Wide Field Camera 3 are: F275W(λ2,704Å), F336W(λ3,355Å), F438W(λ4,325Å), F555W(λ5,308Å), and F814W(λ8,024Å); the parallel observations with the Advanced Camera for Surveys use the filters: F435W(λ4,328Å), F606W(λ5,921Å), and F814W(λ8,057Å). The multi-band images are yielding accurate recent ( 50 Myr) star formation histories from resolved massive stars and the extinction-corrected ages and masses of star clusters and associations. The extensive inventories of massive stars and clustered systems will be used to investigate the spatial and temporal evolution of star formation * Einstein Fellow within galaxies. This will, in turn, inform theories of galaxy evolution and improve the understanding of the physical underpinning of the gas-star formation relation and the nature of star formation at high redshift. This paper describes the survey, its goals and observational strategy, and the initial science results. Because LEGUS will provide a reference survey and a foundation for future observations with JWST and with ALMA, a large number of data products are planned for delivery to the community.

We have analyzed FUSE (905-1187Å) spectra of a sample of 16 local starburst galaxies. These galaxies cover almost three orders of magnitude in starformation rates and over two orders of magnitude in stellar mass. Absorption features from the stars and interstellar medium are observed in all the spectra. The strongest interstellar absorption features are generally blue-shifted by ∼ 50 to 300 km s −1 , implying the almost ubiquitous presence of starburst-driven galactic winds in this sample. The outflow velocites increase with both the star formation rate and the star formation rate per unit stellar mass, consistent with a galactic wind driven by the population of massive stars. We find outflowing coronal-phase gas (T ∼ 10 5.5 K) detected via the O VI absorption-line in nearly every galaxy. The O VI absorption-line profile is optically-thin, is generally weak near the galaxy systemic velocity, and has a higher mean outflow velocity than seen in the lower ionization lines. The relationship between the line width and column density for the O VI absorbing gas is in good agreement with expectations for radiatively cooling and outflowing gas. Such gas will be created in the interaction of the hot out-rushing wind seen in X-ray emission and cool dense ambient material. O VI emission is not generally detected in our sample, suggesting that radiative cooling by the coronal gas is not dynamically significant in draining energy from galactic winds. We find that the measured outflow velocities in the HI and HII phases of the interstellar gas in a given galaxy increase with the strength (equivalent width) of the absorption feature and not with the -2 -ionization potential of the species. The strong lines often have profiles consisting of a broad and optically-thick component centered near the galaxy systemic velocity and weaker but highly blue-shifted absorption. This suggests that the outflowing gas with high velocity has a lower column density than the more quiescent gas, and can only be readily detected in the strongest absorption lines. From direct observations below the Lyman edge in the galaxy rest-frame, we find no evidence of Lyman continuum radiation escaping from any of the galaxies in the sample. Moreover, the small escape fraction of light in the center of the strong C II absorption feature confirms the high opacity below the Lyman limit in the neutral ISM. The absolute fraction of escaping Lyman continuum photons is typically <1%. This sample provides a unique window on the global properties of local star-forming galaxies as observed in the far-UV and also provides a useful comparison sample for understanding spectra of high redshift star-forming galaxies.

The star formation history in I Zw 18 has been inferred from Hubble Space T elescope Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 archival data. This is done by comparing the derived V , B[V and V , V [I colormagnitude diagrams and luminosity functions with synthetic ones, based on various sets of stellar evolutionary tracks. At a distance of 10 Mpc, the stars resolved in the Ðeld of I Zw 18 allow for a look-back time up to 1 Gyr. We Ðnd that the main body is not experiencing its Ðrst episode of star formation. Instead, it has been forming stars over the last 0.5È1 Gyr, at a rate of D(1È2) ] 10~2 yr~1 kpc~2. A M _ more intense activity of (6È16) ] 10~2 yr~1 kpc~2 has taken place between 15 and 20 Myr ago. For M _ the secondary body, the look-back time is 0.2 Gyr at most and the uncertainty is much higher because of the shallower diagrams and the small number of resolved stars. The derived range of star formation rate is (3È10) ] 10~3 yr~1 kpc~2. The IMF providing the best Ðt to the observed stellar populations M _ in the main body has a slope 1.5, much Ñatter than in any similar galaxy analyzed with the same method. In the secondary body, it is peaked at a^2.2, closer to SalpeterÏs slope (a \ 2.35).