Under the supervision of Dr. Benne Holwerda at the University of Louisville, I conducted my initial independent research project. The study aimed to compare the observed dust masses from GAMA/G10-COSMOS/3D-HST with the simulated dust masses from SIMBA. Dust plays a crucial role in determining the evolution and appearance of galaxies. It is essential to ensure that our simulations of dust content in galaxies match observed data to make accurate predictions about galaxy formation. 

Preprint: Preprint Article | Publisher: Published Article

Occulting pairs of galaxies, where a foreground galaxy partially overlaps a background galaxy, are becoming increasingly valuable for studying dust attenuation and other dust properties in galaxies. These occulting systems present a unique opportunity to derive attenuation measurements by modelling the light from both galaxies and inferring the missing light in the overlapping regions, leaving only the light attenuated by dust remaining. However, the current master catalogue of these pairs is still relatively limited in number, and expanding such a catalogue will provide significant advantages. To achieve this, we utilize galaxies classified as "overlapping" from Galaxy Zoo DECaLS (GZD-1, 2, and 5), along with images from Data Release 10 (DR10) of the DESI Legacy Survey in our own Galaxy Zoo project to classify these pairs directly. This new catalogue will not only provide a wealth of targets for future dust studies but will also offer a deeper understanding of these pairs as a whole.

The number of overlapping pairs is not final and may change.*

Current Beta - https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/tbutrum/overlap-zoo 

This paper compares the classifications made for two different surveys, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) imaging survey and a part of the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), in the equatorial fields of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. The aim is to cross-validate the classifications based on different imaging qualities and depths.

Preprint: Preprint Article | Publisher: Accepted Article 

VV\,191 is a nearby (z ~ 0.05) overlapping -- occulting -- galaxy pair, where a multiple-armed spiral galaxy is backlit by an elliptical galaxy. The overlap is used to derive and map dust attenuation in two JWST NIRCam filters (F090W and F150W) and one visible band HST WFC3 filter (F606W). We present maps of the attenuation in each filter, the ratio of total-to-selective attenuation with a near-infrared (NIR) color excess, R(vi), and the NIR attenuation curve power law index, α. The maps trace the optically thin outer disk of foreground galaxy VV191b at ~100 pc physical resolution. We find the distributions of attenuation and R(vi) close to log-normal throughout the disk and in small, high S/N regions of VV191b. Similarly, we find the distribution of α is approximately Gaussian. We speculate that the impact of unresolved clouds in the ISM have a larger impact at these sampling scales.

Publisher: Accepted Article 

The need for deep multi-wavelength data has led to a small number of heavily studied fields including the Chandra Deep Field - South, which is now the target of the new LADUMA (Looking At the Distant Universe with the MeerKAT Array) Hi survey. Ultraviolet is a known tracer of star formation and GALEX data have frequently been used to find the star formation rates of galaxies. Here the narrower Swift UVOT filters are used to infer recent star formation histories for comparison to the gas reservoir traced by the new Hi data. We report eight Swift detected sources in L-band LADUMA data with similar UV colors. We compare the relative Hi mass fraction of these eight galaxies and find two are highly depleted, but three are notably gas-rich. Our working hypothesis is that the two gas poor galaxies are (slowly) quenching, while two of the gas-rich galaxies are in a period of rejuvenation. The third gas-rich galaxy is one of an interacting pair and we do not make an interpretation at this time. The remaining three galaxies are the bluest in the UV and are interpreted as having on-going star formation