5 Properties of Star Forming
Regions
The star forming properties of the sample are examined in further detail by
characterizing the individual star forming complexes in each galaxy. In so doing,
the study of star formation progresses to more local scales to reveal processes that
may be operating on local levels. Star formation for individual regions is quanti-
ed by means of photometry in the observed bandpassses, which is used to derive
a characteristic age for each region. Since both the FUV and H emission are
used to de ne a star forming region in this context, the ages provide a snapshot of
the pattern of star formation over a 100 Myr timescale. This is an unconventional
approach in de ning the spatial distribution of star formation provided by the
utility of the FUV data. The spatial distribution of massive star formation is nor-
mally described by H observations alone, revealing the activity over a
5 Myr
timescale. The FUV observations show remnants of slightly older sites of activity
and when compared to H observations, uncover the progression of star forma-
tion in a system. Registered FUV and continuum subtracted H images of the
dwarf galaxy targets are shown in Figs. 5.1
,
5.3 to highlight the di erences shown
between the spatial patterns of current" and recent" star formation activity.
5.1 Photometry of Star Forming Regions
Star formation regions are de ned in each galaxy by selecting regions of as-
sociated FUV and H ux. The choice of boundaries is facilitated by creating a
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