Evidence of fast rotation in dwarf elliptical galaxies |
| |
| Authors: | S Pedraz J Gorgas N Cardiel P Sánchez-Blázquez R Guzmán |
| |
| Institution: | Departamento de Astrofísica, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, E28040–Madrid, Spain; Calar Alto Observatory, CAHA, Apdo. 511, 04004 Almería, Spain; Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, PO Box 112055, Gainesville, FL 32611-2055, USA |
| |
| Abstract: | In this letter we investigate the kinematical properties of early-type dwarfs by significantly enlarging the scarce observational sample so far available. We present rotation curves and mean velocity dispersions for four bright dwarf ellipticals and two dwarf lenticular galaxies in the Virgo cluster. Most of these galaxies exhibit conspicuous rotation curves. In particular, five out of the six new galaxies are found to be close to the predictions for oblate spheroids flattened by rotation. Therefore, and contrary to the previous observational hints, the present data suggest that an important fraction of dwarf early-type galaxies may be rotationally supported. |
| |
| Keywords: | galaxies: dwarf galaxies: elliptical and lenticular cD galaxies: kinematics and dynamics |
|
|
