Bibcode
Dottori, H.; Cepa, J.; Vilchez, J.; Barth, C. S.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol. 283, NO. 3/MAR(III), P. 753, 1994
Advertised on:
3
1994
Journal
Citations
7
Refereed citations
6
Description
We discuss narrow band CCD imaging of NGC 4861 in continua at 4500 A,
5300 A and 6300 A as well as in Hα, Hβ and (O III]
λ5007 A lines. We find that the system exhibits a double nucleus
structure and a counter-tail to the well-known northeast chain of HII
regions. The mean value of lines and continua frames for the main body
brightness distribution of NGC 4861 is R^-2.04+/-0.35^, comparable to
the Hubble-Reynolds law R^-2^. The three mentioned characteristics
indicate that NGC 4861 might have undergone a merger process. The time
elapsed from the beginning of the phenomenon is set to be smaller than
three crossing times. New observations are proposed to confirm or reject
the merger scenario for this peculiar galaxy.