I briefly review what has been learned from determinations of mean stellar ages and abundances from integrated light studies of early-type galaxies, and discuss some new questions posed by recent data. A short discussion of spectroscopic ages is presented, but the main focus of this review is on the abundances of Fe, Mg, Ca, N, and C, obtained from comparisons of measurements taken in integrated spectra of galaxies with predictions from stellar population synthesis models.

본 연구에서는 SDSS DR6을 이용하여 별탄생율과 활동성 은하핵의 막대의 특성, 특히 막대의 세기에 대한 의존성을 조사하였다. 막대의 세기를 보다 잘 표현하기 위하여 막대의 길이와 축비를 이용하여 막대를 6개의 군으로 나누었다. Hα 방출선 세기로부터 구한 별탄생율은 막대의 세기와 좋은 상관관계를 보였으나 활동성 은하핵은 막대와 또렷한 상관관계를 보이지 않았다. 전자의 상관관계는 막대에 의해 유발되는 가스 유입이 막대의 세기에 의존하기 때문이라고 해석되며, 활동성 은하핵이 막대의 특성과 특별한 상관관계를 보이지 않는 것은 초중량 블랙홀로 들어가는 가스의 양이 막대와 초거대 블랙홀과의 상호 작용에 의해 조절된다는 것을 의미한다. 활동성 은하핵은 주변의 밀도에 의해 영향을 받으나 별탄생율은 주변의 밀도와 무관해 보인다. 이것은 별탄생은 은하에서의 가스 밀도에 의해 결정되는 국지적인 현상인데 반해 활동성 은하핵은 질량이나 광도와 같은 은하의 특성이 밀도-광도관계로 표현되는 은하의 환경 의존성과 밀접한 관계가 있음을 암시한다.

Triggered star formation is not a new idea - it's been around for at least the last 30 years. Although it has never disappeared from the scene, it seems to be enjoying something of a renaissance in recent years, in both observational and theoretical studies. Here we give a brief discussion of the background of triggered star formation, describe some of our own recent observational efforts in this regard, and briefly mention some initial conclusions that may be drawn.

It is well known that water vapor maser emission at 22.2 GHz is associated with the earliest stages of both low- and high-mass star formation and it can be considered a reliable diagnostic of their evolutionary state. Bright Rimmed Clouds (BRCs) are clouds that have been compressed by an external ionization-shock front which focuses the neutral gas into compact globules. The boundary layer between the neutral gas and the gas ionized by the incident photons is often called "bright rim" but the clumps are sometimes classified also as speck globules or cometary globules depending on their appearance. Small globules with bright rims have been considered to be potential sites of star formation and have been studied in several individual regions. We present results from high resolution VLA observations searching for new candidates of recent star formation in bright-rimmed clouds/globules associated with IRAS point sources.