Uncertainties in Spiral Galaxy Projection Parameters | Zendy

Eric I. Barnes | Zendy; J. A. Sellwood | Zendy

AI Assistant Blog Pricing

Home ZAIA Blog

Open Access

Uncertainties in Spiral Galaxy Projection Parameters

Author(s) -

Eric I. Barnes,

J. A. Sellwood

Publication year - 2003

Publication title -

the astronomical journal

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 2.61

H-Index - 271

eISSN - 1538-3881

pISSN - 0004-6256

DOI - 10.1086/346142

Subject(s) - position (finance) , galaxy , physics , position angle , projection (relational algebra) , spiral galaxy , kinematics , astrophysics , elliptical galaxy , spiral (railway) , inclination angle , geometry , mathematics , algorithm , classical mechanics , mathematical analysis , finance , economics

We investigate the impact of nonaxisymmetric structure on estimates of galaxyinclinations and position angles. A new minimization technique is used toobtain estimates of inclination and position angle from a global fit to eitherphotometric or kinematic data. We discuss possible systematic uncertaintieswhich are much larger than statistical uncertainties. Our investigation revealsthat systematic uncertainties associated with fitting photometric data dominatethe formal statistical uncertainties. For our sample of inclined galaxies, weestimate that nonaxisymmetric features introduce inclination and position angleuncertainties of approximately 5 degrees, on average. The magnitudes of theseuncertainties weaken the arguments for intrinsically elliptical galaxy disks.Comment: submitted to AJ, Rutgers Preprint #365; V. frames of figs 5a-5e correcte

The content you want is available to Zendy users.

Already have an account? Click here to sign in.

Having issues? You can contact us here

Accelerating Research