Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-r6qrq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T08:16:59.204Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Structural properties of dwarf ellipticals and the connection with (ordinary) elliptical galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2005

Alister W. Graham
Affiliation:
Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Australian National University, Private Bag, Weston Creek PO, ACT 2611, Australia. email: Graham@mso.anu.edu.au
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This article reviews the popular reasons for the belief that dwarf elliptical galaxies and (ordinary) elliptical galaxies are distinct and separate species. They include: light–profile shape (or similarly image concentration); the magnitude–central surface brightness diagram; the magnitude–effective surface brightness diagram (or similarly the magnitude–effective radius diagram); and the Fundamental Plane. It is shown how a continuous trend between luminosity and a) light–profile shape, and b) central surface brightness (until the onest of core formation at $M_B \sim -20.5$ mag), results in a unification of the dwarf elliptical and (ordinary) elliptical galaxies. Neither the above four reasons, nor the luminosity function (at least in the Virgo cluster) provide evidence for a division at $M_B=-18$ mag between the dwarf elliptical and (ordinary) elliptical galaxies. Instead, they appear to be continuous extensions of each other.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
© 2005 International Astronomical Union