1996/04/12 by Andreon Stefano, Stefano, Andreon
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9604068
15 pages with 5 figures, A&A Tex macros, A&A, in press
arxiv created 1996/04/12 · openalex publication_date 1996/04/12 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We have looked for differences in the galaxy properties along the Hubble sequence and for the dependence of these properties on the environment, in an absolute magnitude complete sample of 187 galaxies in the Coma cluster. The morphological type of all galaxies was determined from our own high resolution data. We also compared this sample with other published complete samples of galaxies in the Perseus and Virgo clusters and in the local field. Ellipticals and lenticulars are highly homogeneous in all their internal photometric properties. These galaxies are well described just by their morphological type and luminosity, regardless of the environment. On the other hand, some of the external properties of these galaxies and of their subclasses differ markedly. Then, for early-type galaxies, the environment determines the space density of each type but not the internal properties of the type, which are the same in all environments. Spirals form a heterogeneous class of objects whose photometric properties depend on one extra parameter related to the environment. The spatial distribution of spirals as a whole class is uniform. For spirals, therefore, the environment does not determine the space density, which is the same in all environments, but strongly affects the internal galaxy properties. The galaxies in Coma, as in Perseus, are segregated primarily with respect to the supercluster main direction, thus providing a new interpretation of the morphology-radius and morphology-density relations.