The structure of the Galactic bar |
| |
| Authors: | C Babusiaux G Gilmore |
| |
| Institution: | Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HA;Institut d'Astronomie et d'Astrophysique, UniversitéLibre de Bruxelles, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium |
| |
| Abstract: | We present a deep near-infrared wide-angle photometric analysis of the structure of the inner Galactic bar and central disc. The presence of a triaxial structure at the centre of the Galaxy is confirmed, consistent with a bar inclined at 22°± 5 5 from the Sun—Galactic Centre line, extending to approximately 2.5 kpc from the Galactic Centre and with a rather small axis ratio. A feature at ?=?98 not aligned with this triaxiality suggests the existence of a second structure in the inner Galaxy, a double triaxiality or an inner ring. We argue that this is likely to be the signature of the end of the Galactic bar, at approximately 2.5–3 kpc, which is circumscribed by an inner pseudo-ring. No thick dust lane preceding the bar is detected and a hole in the dust distribution of the disc inside the bar radius is inferred. |
| |
| Keywords: | dust extinction Galaxy: bulge Galaxy: stellar content Galaxy: structure infrared: stars |
|
|
