Bibcode
Knapen, J. H.; van der Kruit, P. C.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics (ISSN 0004-6361), vol. 248, no. 1, Aug. 1991, p. 57-61. Research supported by EEC.
Advertised on:
8
1991
Citations
59
Refereed citations
56
Description
In the present comparative study of published values for the scale
lengths of spiral galaxies' exponential disks, the average value of the
discrepancy for more than 120 galaxies is 23 percent, with a standard
deviation of 20 percent. Neither systematic trends nor correlations of
discrepancies with such galaxy parameters as morphological type, arm
class, or inclination, are noted. Semiautomated methods of scale-length
determination are noted, however, to introduce rather large
discrepancies. These results demonstrate the care with which physical
intepretation of the exponential character of spiral galaxy disks should
be conducted.