Bibcode
Davis, Benjamin L.; Berrier, J. C.; Shields, D. W.; Kennefick, J.; Kennefick, D.; Seigar, M. S.; Lacy, C. H. S.; Puerari, I.
Referencia bibliográfica
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, #246.01
Fecha de publicación:
1
2012
Número de citas
0
Número de citas referidas
0
Descripción
A logarithmic spiral is a prominent feature appearing in a majority of
observed galaxies. This feature has long been associated with the
traditional Hubble classification scheme, but historical quotes of pitch
angle of spiral galaxies have been almost exclusively qualitative. We
have developed a methodology, utilizing Two-Dimensional Fast Fourier
Transformations of images of spiral galaxies, in order to isolate and
measure the pitch angles of their spiral arms. Our technique provides a
quantitative way to measure this morphological feature. This will allow
the precise comparison of spiral galaxy evolution to other galactic
parameters and test spiral arm genesis theories. In this work, we detail
our image processing and analysis of spiral galaxy images and discuss
the robustness of our analysis techniques. The authors gratefully
acknowledge support for this work from NASA Grant NNX08AW03A.