2017/03/31 by W. Peters, Wesley Peters, Rachel Kuzio de Naray
Physics and Astronomy · #Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Bulge #Classical mechanics #Elliptical galaxy #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Kinematics #Physics #Spiral (railway) #Spiral galaxy #astro-ph.GA
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/stx821
published as 2017, MNRAS, 469, 3541 · Accepted for publication on MNRAS, 25 pages, 21 figures
arxiv created 2017/03/31 · openalex publication_date 2017/03/31 · arxiv updated 2017/06/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present optical BVRI photometry, H α integrated field unit velocity fields and H α long-slit rotation curves for a sample of four nearby spiral galaxies having a range of morphologies and inclinations. We show that the DISKFIT code can be used to model the photometric and kinematic data of these four galaxies and explore how well the photometric data can be decomposed into structures like bars and bulges and to look for non-circular motions in the kinematic data. In general, we find good agreement between our photometric and kinematic models for most parameters. We find the best consistency between our photometric and kinematic models for NGC 6674, a relatively face-on spiral with clear and distinct bulge and bar components. We also find excellent consistency for NGC 2841, and find a bar ∼10° south of the disc major axis in the inner 20 arcsec. Due to geometric effects caused by its high inclination, we find the kinematic model for NGC 2654 to be less accurate than its photometry. We find the bar in NGC 2654 to be roughly parallel to the major axis of the galaxy. We are unable to photometrically model our most highly inclined galaxy, NGC 5746, with DISKFIT and instead use the galaxy isophotes to determine that the system contains a bar ∼5° to ∼10° east of the disc major axis. The high inclination and extinction in this galaxy also prevent our kinematic model from accurately determining parameters about the bar, though the data are better modelled when a bar is included.