Evidence of fast rotation in dwarf elliptical galaxies

In this letter we investigate the kinematical properties of early-type dwarfs by significantly enlarging the scarce observational sample so far available. We present rotation curves and mean velocity dispersions for four bright dwarf ellipticals and two dwarf lenticular galaxies in the Virgo cluster...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Pedraz, S., Gorgas García, Francisco Javier, Cardiel López, Nicolás, Sánchez Blázquez, Patricia, Guzmán, R.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2002
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/59505
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/59505
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:52
Line-strength indexes
Virgo cluster
Surface photometry
Populations
Kinematics
Evolution
Dichotomy
Dynamics
Catalog
Shapes
Astronomía (Física)
Descripción
Sumario:In this letter we investigate the kinematical properties of early-type dwarfs by significantly enlarging the scarce observational sample so far available. We present rotation curves and mean velocity dispersions for four bright dwarf ellipticals and two dwarf lenticular galaxies in the Virgo cluster. Most of these galaxies exhibit conspicuous rotation curves. In particular, five out of the six new galaxies are found to be close to the predictions for oblate spheroids flattened by rotation. Therefore, and contrary to the previous observational hints, the present data suggest that an important fraction of dwarf early-type galaxies may be rotationally supported.