PHANGS — Physics Of Star Formation In Nearby Galaxies At High Resolution

Where do stars form and how is their formation regulated across galactic disks? These two questions are critical for our understanding of the star formation process. The PHANGS (Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS) collaboration is obtaining multi-wavelength, high angular resolution observations of a representative sample of nearby massive star-forming galaxies. The dataset probes star-forming units such as Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs), HII regions, and young stellar clusters throughout the star-forming disks of the galaxies in the sample. Such data hold the key to new insights on the molecular gas reservoir, the star formation process itself, as well as on the influence of global and local galaxy properties plus the galactic environment on the gas-star formation cycle. Here we will provide an overview of the PHANGS science goals and the major efforts within the PHANGS collaboration.