More evidence for hidden spiral and bar features in bright early-type dwarf galaxies

F. D. Barazza*, B. Binggeli, H. Jerjen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

107 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Following the discovery of spiral structure in IC 3328 (Jerjen et al. 2000), we present further evidence that a sizable fraction of bright early-type dwarfs in the Virgo cluster are genuine disk galaxies, or are hosting a disk component. Among a sample of 23 nucleated dwarf ellipticals and dSOs observed with the Very Large Telescope in B and R, we found another four systems exhibiting non-axisymmetric structures, such as a bar and/or spiral arms, indicative of a disk (IC 0783, IC 3349, NGC 4431, IC 3468). Particularly remarkable are the two-armed spiral pattern in IC 0783 and the bar and trailing arms in NGC 4431. For both galaxies the disk nature has recently been confirmed by a rotation velocity measurement (Simien & Prugniel 2002). Our photometric search is based on a Fourier decomposition method and a specific version of unsharp masking. Some "early-type" dwarfs in the Virgo cluster seem to be former late-type galaxies which were transformed to early-type morphology, e.g. by "harassment", during their infall to the cluster, while maintaining part of their disk structure.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)823-831
Number of pages9
JournalAstronomy and Astrophysics
Volume391
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2002
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'More evidence for hidden spiral and bar features in bright early-type dwarf galaxies'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this