1999/05/30 by G. C. Dewangan, K. P. Singh, P. N. Bhat
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Circumstellar dust #Cosmic dust #Extinction (optical mineralogy) #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Initial mass function #Intergalactic dust #Photometry (optics) #Physics #Star formation #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Supernova #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/300963
15 pages, 8 jpeg figures, 5 tables in one file, AASTEX style, Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal, 1999 August
arxiv created 1999/05/30 · openalex publication_date 1999/08/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We report on BVR surface photometry of a lenticular galaxy, NGC 4753, with prominent dust lanes. We have used the multicolor broadband photometry to study dust extinction as a function of wavelength and derived the extinction curve. We find the extinction curve of NGC 4753 to be similar to the Galactic extinction curve in the visible region, which implies that the sizes of dust grains responsible for optical extinction are similar to those in our Galaxy. We derive the dust mass from optical extinction as well as from the far-infrared fluxes observed with IRAS . The ratio of the two dust masses, M d ,IRAS / M d ,optical , is 2.28 for NGC 4753, which is significantly lower than the value of 8.4 ± 1.3 found previously for a large sample of elliptical galaxies. The total mass of the observed dust within NGC 4753 is about a factor of 10 higher than the mass of dust expected from loss of mass from red giant stars and destruction by sputtering and grain-grain collisions in low-velocity shocks and sputtering in supernova-driven blast waves. We find evidence for the coexistence of dust and Hα-emitting gas within NGC 4753. The current star formation rate of NGC 4753, averaged over the past 2 × 10 6 yr, is estimated to be less than 0.21 M ⊙ yr -1 . A substantial amount of dust within NGC 4753 exists in the form of cirrus.