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Old 09-07-2011, 09:26 PM
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madbadgalaxyman (Robert)
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Ic 4767

One galaxy in this cluster that has had some research done on it, over the years, is the edge-on large-bulged S0 galaxy IC 4767

This is one of the prototypes of a galaxy that has a very large Boxy and x-shaped bulge. The bulge component of this galaxy appears very rectangular when displayed at some scales:

Click image for larger version

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This logarithmic scale image (and the isophotes on the right) are from Whitmore and Bell's paper on this galaxy (1988, ApJ, 324, 741)

Large bulges that are boxy and which also show an X-shape are variously ascribed to the presence of a bar structure that is seen edge-on and/or to the accretion of a smaller companion galaxy.

Here are the NIR isophotes of IC 4767 from a very recent study by M.J. Williams et al., (see this preprint:
arxiv 1102.2438 .....which can be found at //arxiv.org )(accepted for publication in 2011 MNRAS)

Click image for larger version

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(the coloured lines have nothing at all to do with the galaxy; they mark slit positions)

These bulges are also referred to in the literature as "peanut-shaped" and "boxy/peanut shaped".


I have been doing a bit of an informal study of these edge-on S0 galaxies that have giant boxy bulges, and I find that they are very common in some galaxy cluster environments (accretion origin?!?). I also find that there is a connection between the presence of a very large boxy bulge and the presence of a strong warp or tilt (bending away from the plane) in the equatorial dust lane.

A somewhat larger example of this type of galaxy is NGC 6771.
Here is an image of NGC 6771:

Click image for larger version

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