Star Formation Within Nearby Galaxies

Galaxies, like the Milky Way in which we live, grow by merging with other galaxies and forming new stars. Star formation is fuelled by the cooling and collapse of clouds of gas, and this thesis aims to understand the interplay between gas, star formation, and galaxy mass. Using data collected from telescopes around the world, we find that star formation increases with the gas content of a galaxy, although we also identify a small population of galaxies with significant gas reservoirs that are not forming stars.