Other
Scientific paper
Dec 1977
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1977aj.....82..941f&link_type=abstract
Astronomical Journal, vol. 82, Dec. 1977, p. 941-946.
Other
61
Elliptical Galaxies, Galactic Clusters, Halos, Line Spectra, X Ray Sources, Absorption Spectra, Abundance, Astronomical Models, Line Shape, Metals
Scientific paper
Spectra of the nuclear region and the outer halo of the cD galaxy in the X-ray cluster Abell 401 are examined which were obtained with an image-dissector scanner attached to the Cassegrain spectrograph on a 120-in. telescope. The line-of-sight velocity dispersion in the halo is measured from the Na D line and found to be 470 + or - 250 km/s; the value determined for the nucleus in the same way is 480 + or - 120 km/s. Evaluation of the results indicates that: (1) the halo measurement is sufficiently precise to exclude a model in which the cD halo is assumed to consist entirely of debris stripped from other cluster galaxies moving with speeds (1390 km/s) typical of cluster members; (2) the data do not exclude the possibility that a large fraction of the halo light originates in such a high-velocity component; and (3) the data are also consistent with the hypothesis that cD galaxies are simply luminous but normal ellipticals. The strengths of absorption lines in the halo spectrum are studied and shown to suggest that the metal abundance of the halo population at a radius of 43 kpc is not extremely metal-poor and is probably close to the average for stars in the solar neighborhood.
Burstein David
Dressler Alan
Faber Sandra M.
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