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A Revised Parallel-sequence Morphological Classification of Galaxies: Structure and Formation of S0 and Spheroidal Galaxies

  • Authors: John Kormendy and Ralf Bender

Kormendy & Bender 2012 The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 198 2.

  • Provider: AAS Journals

Caption: Figure 5.

(R)SB(lens)0 galaxy NGC 3945, a more face-on analog of NGC 4762. The bar fills the lens component in one dimension. The lens is the elliptical "shelf" in the brightness distribution interior to the outer ring. Note that it has a sharp outer edge. Such profiles are well described by Sérsic functions with n < 0.5; that is, ones that cut off at large radii faster than a Gaussian. If NGC 3945 were rotated clockwise slightly and then rotated about a horizontal axis until it is seen edge-on, the bar would look shorter than the major-axis radius of the lens. Then the major-axis brightness profile would show three shelves as in NGC 4762—the bar, the lens, and the outer ring.

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