NGC 5523: An isolated product of soft galaxy mergers?
Abstract
Multi-band images of the very isolated spiral galaxy NGC 5523 show a number of unusual features consistent with NGC 5523 having experienced a significant merger. (1) Near-infrared images from the Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) and the WIYN 3.5-m telescope reveal a nucleated bulge-like structure embedded in a spiral disk; (2) the bulge is offset by 1.8 kpc from a brightness minimum at the center of the optically bright inner disk; (3) a tidal stream, possibly associated with an ongoing satellite interaction, extends from the nucleated bulge along the disk. We interpret these properties as the results of one or more non-disruptive mergers between NGC 5523 and companion galaxies or satellites, raising the possibility that some galaxies become isolated because they have merged with former companions.
The reduced images (FITS files) are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/598/A119- Publication:
-
Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- February 2017
- DOI:
- 10.1051/0004-6361/201628070
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1611.05968
- Bibcode:
- 2017A&A...598A.119F
- Keywords:
-
- galaxies: individual: NGC 5523;
- galaxies: structure;
- galaxies: evolution;
- galaxies: photometry;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- 7 pages, 6 figures, 7 tables