AAS 199th meeting, Washington, DC, January 2002
Session 20. Elliptical Galaxies
Display, Monday, January 7, 2002, 9:20am-6:30pm, Exhibit Hall

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[20.01] A Rapidly Evolving Loose Group of Galaxies

T. S. Statler, D. R. Wik (Ohio Univ.), C. Yang, J. van Gorkom, C. Liu (Columbia Univ.), D. M. Terndrup (Ohio State Univ.)

We report on the structure of the previously unrecognized shell system around the elliptical galaxy NGC 2634, located in the HG90 group. Optical images were obtained in the B, R, V, and I filters using the Hiltner 2.4m telescope at the MDM Observatory, and HI maps were obtained at the VLA in D array. A stream of HI extends from NGC 2634A, though no obvious connection exists between the HI and NGC 2634 or its shells, and there is no clear optical evidence of interaction between the two systems. At least 5 shells in NGC 2634 can be seen in the optical images between about 50 and 170 arcsec. Surface photometry, including radial profiles of the surface brightness, isophotal ellipticities and position angles, and the locations and relative colors of the shells, are presented. We use the spacing of the shells to constrain the radial mass distribution of NGC 2634 and the age of the shell system, and the kinematics of the HI stream to constrain the orbit of NGC 2634A.


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