We study the emission by dust and stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds , a pair of low-metallicity nearby galaxies , as traced by their spatially resolved spectral energy distributions ( SEDs ) .
This project combines Herschel Space Observatory PACS and SPIRE far-infrared photometry The data were obtained as part of the HERschel Inventory of The Agents of Galaxy Evolution survey ( HERITAGE ; P.I. , M. Meixner ) . with other data at infrared and optical wavelengths .
We build maps of dust and stellar luminosity and mass of both Magellanic Clouds , and analyze the spatial distribution of dust/stellar luminosity and mass ratios .
These ratios vary considerably throughout the galaxies , generally between the range 0.01 \leq L _ { dust } / L _ { \ast } \leq 0.6 and 10 ^ { -4 } \leq M _ { dust } / M _ { \ast } \leq 4 \times 10 ^ { -3 } .
We observe that the dust/stellar ratios depend on the interstellar medium ( ISM ) environment , such as the distance from currently or previously star-forming regions , and on the intensity of the interstellar radiation field ( ISRF ) .
In addition , we construct star formation rate ( SFR ) maps , and find that the SFR is correlated with the dust/stellar luminosity and dust temperature in both galaxies , demonstrating the relation between star formation , dust emission and heating , though these correlations exhibit substantial scatter .