[60.10] The Vertical Structure of Resolved Stars in Edge-On Galaxies

AAS 205th Meeting, 9-13 January 2005
Session 60 Secular Evolution Potpourri: Star Formation to Galactic Structures
Poster, Tuesday, January 11, 2005, 9:20am-6:30pm, Exhibit Hall

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[60.10] The Vertical Structure of Resolved Stars in Edge-On Galaxies

A. Seth, J. Dalcanton (U. of Washington), R. de Jong (STScI)

We present analysis of resolved stellar photometry in six nearby, late-type, edge-on galaxies imaged with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope. In each of the galaxies, we find evidence for an extended component of stars reaching many scale heights above the midplane. This extended component is found to have a larger scale height than expected from single-disk model fits to 2MASS K-band data. In addition, based on evidence from the color-magnitude diagrams, the stellar populations at large disk heights are found to be old and metal-poor. Based on the scale height, age and metallicity of the extended components, we suggest that each galaxy has a thick disk or halo component.

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