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The Distribution of Light in Galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

K.C. Freeman*
Affiliation:
Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatory, Research School of Physical Sciences, The Australian National University

Extract

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The distribution of light in galaxies is their most obvious and fundamental observable property. Hopefully it gives us some insight into their structure and dynamics. In this talk I will review some recent work on ellipticals and disk galaxies. In summary, the luminosity distributions for both these classes have several complexities, the dynamical significance of which is not yet clear. Both classes turn out to have roughly constant mean surface brightness. This may result from selection. However, if it is real, then it is important dynamically, and I will discuss this question at the end.

Type
I: The Smooth Background
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1978 

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