Year: 2006
Type: article
Abstract: Using imaging data from the SDSS survey, we present the and radial stellar light distribution of a complete sample of ~90 face-on to intermediate inclined, nearby, late-type (Sb–Sdm) spiral galaxies. The surface brightness profiles are reliable ( uncertainty less than 0.2 mag) down to mag . Only ~10% of all galaxies have a normal/standard purely exponential disk down to our noise limit. The surface brightness distribution of the rest of the galaxies is better described as a broken exponential. About 60% of the galaxies have a break in the exponential profile between ∼1.5–4.5 times the scalelength followed by a downbending, steeper outer region. Another ~30% shows also a clear break between ∼4.0–6.0 times the scalelength but followed by an upbending, shallower outer region. A few galaxies have even a more complex surface brightness distribution. The shape of the profiles correlates with Hubble type. Downbending breaks are more frequent in later Hubble types while the fraction of upbending breaks rises towards earlier types. No clear relation is found between the environment, as characterised by the number of neighbours, and the shape of the profiles of the galaxies.
Source: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Authors: M. Pohlen, I. Trujillo
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Princeton University, California Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, University of Washington, Johns Hopkins University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Portsmouth, New Mexico State University, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, U.S. Naval Observatory, Fermilab, Los Alamos National Laboratory
OpenAlex ID: W4298409585