On the mutual location of the nearby galaxies M31, M32 and M110

We performed BVRI surface photometry on the M32 and M110 galaxies building images and photometric sections calibrated in magnitudes and in color indexes. We compare the behavior of the color indexes across centers of both galaxies along two lines. The first line is oriented along the M31 isophote, where the color indexes and internal extinction of the M31 disk may be assumed to be constant. The second line is oriented along the direction toward the M31 center, where due to a probable gradient of the internal extinction of the M31 disk, the color indexes of the satellite galaxies also increase, if they were both located behind it. We find no notable asymmetry of the color sections of M32 in all cases, while the color sections of M110 show significant reddening toward M31 center. The behavior of the color indexes can be treated as photometric evidence that M32 is located in front of the disk of M31, while M110 is situated behind it.