Balcells, Marc; Stanford, S. A.
Bibliographical reference
Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 362, Oct. 20, 1990, p. 443-448.
Advertised on:
10
1990
Journal
Citations
19
Refereed citations
17
Description
A study is presented of the internal velocity structure of NGC 3656, a
galaxy with several morphological signatures of being in an advanced
merger stage. Rotation curves obtained for two slit-position angles show
that the inner 1 kpc rotates around an axis roughly perpendicular to the
rotation axis in the main body of the galaxy. There are indications that
the galaxy is not dynamically relaxed at intermediate radii. The
presence of an orthorotating core in a dynamically young galaxy with a
dust disk and a shell system provides strong evidence linking
kinematically peculiar cores to mergers. However, relating the various
merger signatures in this system is not straightforward, as the core and
the dust disk rotate around axes perpendicular to each other, which may
indicate an independent origin.