The Distribution of Star Formation and Metals in the Low Surface
  Brightness Galaxy UGC 628
  We introduce the MUSCEL Program (MUltiwavelength observations of the
Structure, Chemistry and Evolution of LSB galaxies), a project aimed at
determining the star-formation histories of low surface brightness galaxies.
MUSCEL utilizes ground-based optical spectra and space-based UV and IR
photometry to fully constrain the star-formation histories of our targets with
the aim of shedding light on the processes that led low surface brightness
galaxies down a different evolutionary path from that followed by high surface
brightness galaxies, such as our Milky Way. Here we present the
spatially-resolved optical spectra of UGC 628, observed with the VIRUS-P IFU at
the 2.7-m Harlen J. Smith Telescope at the McDonald Observatory, and utilize
emission-line diagnostics to determine the rate and distribution of star
formation as well as the gas-phase metallicity and metallicity gradient. We
find highly clustered star formation throughout UGC 628, excluding the core
regions, and a log(O/H) metallicity around -4.2, with more metal rich regions
near the edges of the galactic disk. Based on the emission-line diagnostics
alone, the current mode of star formation, slow and concentrated in the outer
disk, appears to have dominated for quite some time, although there are clear
signs of a much older stellar population formed in a more standard inside-out
fashion.
