The CGCA (The Leonard E. Parker Center for Gravitation, Cosmology and Astrophysics) seminars are scheduled for Fridays at 1:00 pm in in the Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex (KIRC) Room KEN 2175. A “brown bag lunch” group will assemble in KEN 4118 (fourth floor kitchenette located next to the elevators) at 12:00 NOON.

The ALFALFA Halpha Survey: Measuring the Local Star-Formation Rate Density
Angela Van Sistine, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

The ALFALFA Halpha survey uses a volume-limited sample of HI-selected galaxies from the ALFALFA survey to study star formation in the local universe. We have obtained sensitive narrow-band Halpha images of 1555 galaxies between 20 and 100 Mpc. Our large, complete sample of galaxies gives us robust statistics and allows us to cover a wide range of galaxian environments. A primary goal of our survey is to produce a precise measurement of the local star-formation rate density (SFRD). In this talk I will give an overview of the ALFALFA Halpha survey and discuss our recent measurement of the local SFRD.