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Published 1990 | public
Book Section - Chapter

Optical Properties of Early-Type Galaxies

Abstract

We review the systematics of optical properties of elliptical and dwarf spheroidal galaxies. The scaling laws and correlations among the global properties of these systems can be used to deduce some information about their formation. Both dissipation and mergers appear to be important in the formation of elliptical galaxies. Small, but systematic differences between cluster and field ellipticals are detected, and also between normal ellipticals and brightest cluster members. The scaling laws for dwarf galaxies are very different from those of normal ellipticals, and point to a formation dominated by a single process.

Additional Information

© 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers. This paper is based in part on the data obtained at Palomar, Cerro Tololo, Las Campanas, and Lick observatories, and we thank their staffs for the help during numerous observing runs. We also thank Dr. O. Burstein for communicating the 7S data in a computer form. We acknowledge stimulating discussions with many colleagues, and in particular Drs. J. Kormendy, R. Bender, and J.-L. Nieto. This work was supported in part by California Institute of Technology, and a fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to SO. RdC is on leave from Observatorio Nacional, CNPq, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. SO would like to thank to the A.A.S. for a travel grant, and to the Workshop organizers for the excellent job they did.

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
January 14, 2024