Michele Cappellari

Abstract:

Motivated by recent progress in the study of early-type galaxies owing to technological advances, the launch of new space telescopes, and large ground-based surveys, we attempt a short review of our current understanding of the recent star formation activity in such intriguing galactic systems.

Abstract:

A deep H I survey of nearby early-type galaxies carried out with the Westerbork Radio Synthesis telescope has shown that, contrary to expectation, neutral hydrogen is a significant constituent of the ISM in this type of objects located in low density environment. The studied galaxies are part of a representative sample of nearby E and SO for which integral-field spectroscopy using the SAURON spectrograph is available. We present preliminary results on the comparison of the characteristics of the H I with those of the molecular and ionised gas as well as the stellar dynamics and population.