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| Paper: |
Resolving Individual Stars in Nearby Large Galaxies with the Habitable Worlds Observatory |
| Monograph: |
10, HWO25 Proceedings Part I: Community Science Case Development Documents |
| Page: |
47 |
| Authors: |
Adam Smercina; Tara Fetherolf |
| DOI: |
10.26624/DFGM6388 |
| Abstract: |
The varied and dynamic evolutionary histories of galaxies give rise to the stunning diversity in their
properties that we observe in the present-day universe. HST, and now JWST, have pioneered the study of
resolved individual stars in the Milky Way and other members of the Local Group, uncovering the drivers
of their morphological, star formation, and chemical evolution. HWO will constitute a paradigm shift:
introducing the ability to panchromatically resolve the main bodies of every galaxy in the Local Volume into
their constituent stars. In this science case, we summarize the breakthrough progress that HWO will advance
in the field of galaxy evolution through resolved stellar populations. HWO will transform our understanding
of galaxies in three distance regimes: (1) in the nearest galaxies (∼5 Mpc), where it will resolve stars below
the oldest Main Sequence Turnoff, enabling precision stellar astrophysics and star formation history (SFH)
inferences to the earliest cosmic times; (2) in the greater Local Volume (∼20 Mpc), where it will resolve
stars below the Red Clump, providing access to accurate SFHs for hundreds of galaxies, spanning the entire
Hubble Sequence; and (3) out to cosmological volumes (∼50+ Mpc), providing access to the luminous stellar
populations in thousands of galaxies, enabling unprecedented views of their morphology, stellar abundances,
and dust content. The principal technological requirement advanced by this science case is a camera with a
resolution of ⩽0.′′015 that is diffraction-limited, and Nyquist-sampled (0.′′01 per pixel), to at least 550 nm —
comparable to the High Definition Imager from the LUVOIR concept. |
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