The shape of dark matter haloes – IV. The structure of stellar discs in edge-on galaxies

We present optical and near-infrared archival observations of eight edge-on galaxies. These observations are used to model the stellar content of each galaxy using the fitskirt software package. Using fitskirt, we can self-consistently model a galaxy in each band simultaneously while treating for du...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2017-01, Vol.464 (1), p.48-48
Main Authors: Peters, S P C, de Geyter, G, van der Kruit, P C, Freeman, K C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronomy
Cosmic dust
Dark matter
Galactic rotation
Galaxies
Infrared radiation
Luminosity
Mathematical models
Optics
Parameters
Software packages
Stars & galaxies
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Summary:We present optical and near-infrared archival observations of eight edge-on galaxies. These observations are used to model the stellar content of each galaxy using the fitskirt software package. Using fitskirt, we can self-consistently model a galaxy in each band simultaneously while treating for dust. This allows us to measure accurately both the scalelength and scaleheight of the stellar disc, plus the shape parameters of the bulge. By combining these data with the previously reported integrated magnitudes of each galaxy, we can infer their true luminosities. We have successfully modelled seven out of the eight galaxies in our sample. We find that stellar discs can be modelled correctly, but we have not been able to model the stellar bulge reliably. Our sample consists for the most part of slowly rotating galaxies and we find that the average dust layer is much thicker than is reported for faster rotating galaxies.
ISSN:0035-8711
1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stw2100