Seminar by Christina Lindberg, STScI/JHU
Observational constraints on the small-scale structure of the interstellar medium (ISM) are critical for understanding how star formation and feedback processes drive galaxy evolution across cosmic time. The last decade has seen an explosion of panchromatic HST imaging of nearby galaxies (e.g. PHAT/PHAST, HTTP, PHATTER, LUVIT, Scylla, etc.). With stellar SED fitting techniques like the Bayesian Extinction And Stellar Tool (BEAST), we can harness these rich data to simultaneously characterize individual resolved stars and extract information about the ISM. We review new findings on the formation conditions of massive stars in the Andromeda galaxy (M31; PHAT), present new parsec-scale dust extinction maps in the Magellanic Clouds (Scylla), and discuss future BEAST science to investigate how small-scale processes shape galaxy evolution.