A model for the Andromeda galaxy, M 31, has been derived from the available radio, photometric, and spectroscopic data. The model consists of four components – the nucleus, the bulge, the disc, and the flat component.
For all components the following functions have been found: the mass density; the mass-to-light ratio; the velocity dispersions in three perpendicular directions (for the plane of symmetry and the axis of the galaxy); the deviation angle of the major axis of the velocity ellipsoid from the plane of symmetry; the centroid velocity (for the plane of symmetry).
Our model differs in two points from the models obtained by other authors: the central concentration of mass is higher (in the nucleus the mass-to-light ratio is about 170), and the total mass of the galaxy (200 × 109 solar masses) is smaller. The differences can be explained by different rotation curves adopted, and by attributing more weight to photometric and spectroscopic data in the case of our model.