Astron. Astrophys. 360, 439-446 (2000)

NGC 4672: A new case of an early-type disk galaxy with an orthogonally decoupled core ^* **

M. Sarzi ¹, E.M. Corsini ¹, A. Pizzella ¹, J.C. Vega Beltrán ², M. Cappellari ³, J.G. Funes S.J. ^3,4 and F. Bertola <sup>3

1</sup> Università di Padova, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Asiago, Dipartimento di Astronomia, Via dell'Osservatorio 8, 36012 Asiago, Italy
² Instituto Astrofísico de Canarias, Calle Via Lactea s/n, 38200 La Laguna, Spain
³ Università di Padova, Dipartimento di Astronomia, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
⁴ University of Arizona, Vatican Observatory, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA

Received 15 February 2000 / Accepted 26 April 2000

Abstract

We report the case of the early-type disk galaxy NGC 4672 as a new example of a galaxy characterized by the orthogonal geometrical decoupling between bulge and disk. The morphological features of this galaxy are discussed as well as the velocity curves and velocity dispersion profiles of stars and ionized gas along both its major and minor axis. We conclude that NGC 4672 has structural (i.e. a bulge elongated perpendicularly to the disk) and kinematical (i.e. a stellar core rotating perpendicularly to the disk) properties similar to those of the Sa NGC 4698. The presence of the isolated core suggests that the disk component is the end result of the acquisition of external material in polar orbits around a pre-existing oblate spheroid as in the case of the ring component of AM 2020-504, the prototype of polar ring ellipticals.

Key words: galaxies: individual: NGC 4672 galaxies: kinematics and dynamics galaxies: spiral galaxies: formation galaxies: structure

* Based on observations carried out at ESO, La Silla (Chile).
** Tables 3 to 6 are only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to ftp://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/pub/cats/J/A+A/360/439 (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/360/439

Send offprint requests to: M. Sarzi (sarzi@pd.astro.it)

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Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Observations and data reduction
• 3. The morphology of NGC 4672
• 4. The kinematics of NGC 4672
  • 4.1. Heliocentric systemic velocity
  • 4.2. Stellar kinematics
  • 4.3. Ionized-gas kinematics
• 5. Discussion and conclusions
• Acknowledgements
• References

© European Southern Observatory (ESO) 2000

Online publication: August 17, 2000
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