The Magellanic Clouds

SAGE and HERITAGE LMC and SMC

The Surveying the Agents of Galaxy Evolution (SAGE) and HERschel Inventory of the Agents of Galaxy Evolution (HERITAGE) programs are mid- and far-infrared surveys of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The LMC and SMC are dwarf galaxies in our Milky Way's backyard, so we can see incredible detail even with the modest-sized Spitzer and Herschel Space Telescopes.

These programs aim to study the full life cycle of dust in the LMC and SMC: from its birth around stars to its collection in the interstellar medium and finally to its role in new star formation.

There are many papers using both the SAGE and HERITAGE data. You can see my contributions on my publications page. The Overview papers are:

The SAGE image of the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Blue is 3.6μm, green is 8μm, and red is 24μm.