Star formation in Milky Way analogues

To answer this question, we define a sample of Milky Way analogues (MWAs) based on stringent cuts on the best literature estimates of non-transient structural features for the Milky Way. This selection yields only 176 galaxies from the whole of the SDSS DR7 spectroscopic sample which have morphological classifications in Galaxy Zoo 2, from which we infer SFRs from two separate indicators.

The mean SFRs found are log(SFR_SED_/M_{sun}_yr^-1^)=0.53 with a standard deviation of 0.23dex from SED fits, and log(SFR_W4_/M_{sun}_yr^-1^)=0.68 with a standard deviation of 0.41dex from a mid-infrared calibration. The most recent estimate for the Milky Way's SFR of log(SFR_MW_/M_{sun}_yr^-1^)=0.22 fits well within 2{sigma} of these values, where {sigma} is the standard deviation of each of the SFR indicator distributions.