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Accueil > Séminaires > Unveiling NGC 205 : a galaxy undergoing

Unveiling NGC 205 : a galaxy undergoing morphological transformation ?

Ivo Saviane (ESO)

With a fresh analysis of archival HST/WFPC2 imaging, and of a recently published, very deep and wide-area photograph of NGC 205, we have discovered very promising evidence that this galaxy might harbor a stellar disk inside its prominent spheroidal halo.

NGC 205 is classified as a dwarf elliptical galaxy, based on the morphology of its
luminous stellar component, but in the course of the years many features have emerged that are hard to reconcile with this classification. If confirmed, our discovery would explain many of these peculiar characteristics.

I will describe how we are collecting a new body of evidence that will be used to test our work hypothesis, that NGC 205 is the the closest example of a galaxy undergoing morphological transformation.