Integral-field spectroscopy of galaxies: The SAURON Project
Tim de Zeeuw (Leiden Observatory) - 1 October at
12:00 noon
SAURON is a panoramic integral-field spectrograph on the 4.2m William
Herschel Telescope on La Palma, custom-built for a survey of the
stellar and gaseous kinematics and the line-strength distributions of
72 nearby early-type galaxies and spiral bulges. The aim is to
determine the intrinsic shape of the galaxies, their orbital
structure, the mass-to-light ratio as a function of radius, the age
and metallicity of the stellar populations, and the frequency of
kinematically decoupled cores and nuclear black holes. The
observations were completed in spring 2002, and analysis and dynamical
modeling is ongoing. The talk will give an overview of the project,
and present initial results.
The seminar will be held in JILA S-105.
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