Bibcode
Davis, Benjamin L.; Berrier, Joel C.; Shields, Douglas W.; Kennefick, Julia; Kennefick, Daniel; Seigar, Marc S.; Lacy, Claud H. S.; Puerari, Ivânio
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal Supplement, Volume 199, Issue 2, article id. 33 (2012).
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4
2012
Citations
92
Refereed citations
76
Description
A logarithmic spiral is a prominent feature appearing in a majority of
observed galaxies. This feature has long been associated with the
traditional Hubble classification scheme, but historical quotes of pitch
angle of spiral galaxies have been almost exclusively qualitative. We
have developed a methodology, utilizing two-dimensional fast Fourier
transformations of images of spiral galaxies, in order to isolate and
measure the pitch angles of their spiral arms. Our technique provides a
quantitative way to measure this morphological feature. This will allow
comparison of spiral galaxy pitch angle to other galactic parameters and
test spiral arm genesis theories. In this work, we detail our image
processing and analysis of spiral galaxy images and discuss the
robustness of our analysis techniques.