Star formation in galaxies across a range of environments

附近的星系为天文学家提供了在比我们银河系更广泛的环境中研究星际介质和恒星形成之间的相互作用的机会。星系质量、恒星形成率、形态、金属丰度及其更大尺度的环境都可能对星际介质的物理和化学性质产生影响。附近的星系也扮演着重要的角色，使天文学家能够探索全球星系性质与从帕秒到千帕秒尺度上的相互作用之间的关系。了解局部过程如何影响星系的全球外观，对于对早期宇宙中更遥远的星系的物理解释至关重要，因为早期宇宙中的星系只能测量全球平均数量。

Nearby galaxies provide astronomers with the opportunity to study the interplay between the interstellar medium and star formation in a wider range of environments than can be accessed in our own Galaxy. Galaxy mass, star formation rate, morphology, metallicity, and their larger scale environment may all have an impact on the physical and chemical properties of the interstellar medium. Nearby galaxies also play an important role in allowing astronomers to probe the relationship between global galactic properties and interactions on parsec to kiloparsec scales. Understanding how local processes affect the global appearance of galaxies is crucial to a physical interpretation of more distant galaxies in the early universe, for which only globally-averaged quantities can be measured.