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Blue ellipticals in compact groups
| Content Provider | NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
|---|---|
| Author | Whitmore, Bradley C. Zepf, Stephen E. |
| Copyright Year | 1990 |
| Description | By studying galaxies in compact groups, the authors examine the hypothesis that mergers of spiral galaxies make elliptical galaxies. The authors combine dynamical models of the merger-rich compact group environment with stellar evolution models and predict that roughly 15 percent of compact group ellipticals should be 0.15 mag bluer in B - R color than normal ellipticals. The published colors of these galaxies suggest the existence of this predicted blue population, but a normal distribution with large random errors can not be ruled out based on these data alone. However, the authors have new ultraviolet blue visual data which confirm the blue color of the two ellipticals with blue B - R colors for which they have their own colors. This confirmation of a population of blue ellipticals indicates that interactions are occurring in compact groups, but a blue color in one index alone does not require that these ellipticals are recent products of the merger of two spirals. The authors demonstrate how optical spectroscopy in the blue may distinguish between a true spiral + spiral merger and the swallowing of a gas-rich system by an already formed elliptical. The authors also show that the sum of the luminosity of the galaxies in each group is consistent with the hypothesis that the final stage in the evolution of compact group is an elliptical galaxy. |
| File Size | 461237 |
| Page Count | 5 |
| File Format | |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://archive.org/details/NASA_NTRS_Archive_19910007560 |
| Archival Resource Key | ark:/13960/t9k40pv88 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher Date | 1990-11-01 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Astrophysics Galactic Clusters Normal Density Functions Hypotheses Populations Elliptical Galaxies Galactic Evolution Color Ubv Spectra Luminosity Stellar Spectrophotometry Spiral Galaxies Random Errors Ntrs Nasa Technical Reports Server (ntrs) Nasa Technical Reports Server Aerodynamics Aircraft Aerospace Engineering Aerospace Aeronautic Space Science |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
