Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T11:21:57.835Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Dust Opacity of Spiral Galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2016

Y. I. Byun
Affiliation:
Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Private Bag, Weston ACT 2611
K. C. Freeman
Affiliation:
Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Private Bag, Weston ACT 2611

Abstract

In order to find the best observable diagnostics for the amount of internal extinction within spiral galaxies, we have constructed models for disk galaxies with immersed dust layers. The radiative transfer problem, including both scattering and pure absorption, has been computed for a range of model galaxies. This reveals a set of superior diagnostics for the opacity. These include the behaviour of the radial colour and luminosity distributions, the amplitude of the asymmetry between the near and far sides of the major axis, and their dependence on the orientation of the galaxy with respect to the observer.

Type
Extragalactic
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Burstein, D. and Heiles, C., 1982, Astron. J., 87, 1165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Disney, M. J., Davies, J. and Phillips, S., 1989, Mon. Not. R. Astr. Soc., 239, 939.Google Scholar
Draine, B. T. and Lee, H. M., 1984, Astrophys. J., 285, 89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henyey, L. G. and Greenstein, J. L., 1941, Astrophys. J., 93, 70.Google Scholar
Holmberg, E., 1958, Medd. Lunds Astr. Obs., Ser. II., Nr. 136.Google Scholar
Holmberg, E., 1975, Stars and Stellar Systems, Vol. IX, eds. Sandage, A. and Kristian, J., University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Kylafis, N. D. and Bahcall, J. N., 1987, Astrophys. J., 317, 637.Google Scholar
Valentijn, E. A., 1990, Nature, 346, 153.Google Scholar