Ultraviolet studies of the face-on galaxy NGC 2217

Abstract

Recently a subgroup of S0 galaxies has been identified with external gas rotating in retrograde motion with respect to the stars (e.g. NGC 1216, NGC 4546 and NGC 7007). All of these galaxies are seen almost edge-on and present an excellent testing ground for studying the connection between the stellar formation and the counterrotating (non-primordial) gas. Recently, the almost face-on and gas-rich SB0 galaxy NGC 2217 was added to this list (Bettoni et al. 1990, AJ, 99, 1789), which presents a more favorable orientation for spectroscopic studies to determine its stellar population. We present three IUE long-wavelength region (LWP) observations of NGC 2217 taken at different orientations of the aperture centered on the galaxy nucleus. We have taken full advantage of the IUE spatial resolution capability to map the nuclear and bulge region. In addition, our multicolor CCD imagery obtained at CTIO allows us to identify some faint, but spatially resolved, dust extinction patterns which correlate with the weak IRAS fluxes.