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Session 68 - Disk Galaxies.
Display session, Wednesday, January 15
Metropolitan Ballroom,
The nearby galaxy NGC 891 has long been thought to be very similar to the Milky Way. Stellar thick disks are of particular interest in tracing the formation and early evolution of a galaxy's disk --- the oldest disk stars in the Milky Way belong to its thick disk. However, before the advent of deep CCD surface photometry, it was not possible to study thick disks in external galaxies in any detail.
We present deep CCD surface photometry of NGC 891, obtained using the Burrell Schmidt, which shows that the galaxy has a thick disk similar to the Milky Way's. Because we can view it from outside, global properties of the NGC 891 thick disk (scale length, scale height, possible flaring) are easier to measure than in our own Galaxy. We will compare our results with predictions of models of thick disk formation via satellite accretion.
