Velocity-inclination correlation in the Virgo cluster.
Abstract
The intercorrelation of velocity and inclination is studied for spiral galaxies in the Virgo cluster. It is found that velocity and inclination are anticorrelated such that in the mean the nearer to edge-on a galaxy appears, the lower its line-of-sight velocity tends to be. The variation of inclination distribution with velocity is such that galaxies with velocities nearest the cluster mean appear closest to a 'normal' global distribution. The observed correlation can be understood as a result of two effects, assuming that it is not a chance occurrence. The first is a number of background high-velocity galaxies entering the sample at preferred pole-on orientations because the corresponding fainter edge-on galaxies have less chance of being assigned a type by dVP and fall in magnitude ranges where the sample is less complete. The second is a highly edge-on group of galaxies in Virgo centered near 0 km/s. The results imply that the Virgo spiral velocity distribution has been broadened by the inclusion of supercluster, but not cluster, members and galaxies whose dynamical role in Virgo is not clear.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- April 1981
- DOI:
- 10.1086/183510
- Bibcode:
- 1981ApJ...245L...5F
- Keywords:
-
- Angular Correlation;
- Line Of Sight;
- Radial Velocity;
- Spiral Galaxies;
- Virgo Galactic Cluster;
- Inclination;
- Red Shift;
- Astrophysics