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The Morphological Diversity of DIG in Halos of Edge-on Spirals as Revealed by HST/ACS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 September 2012

J. Rossa
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, 211 Bryant Space Science Center, PO Box 112055, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. e-mail: jrossa@astro.ufl.edu;
M. Dahlem
Affiliation:
CSIRO/ATNF - Paul Wild Observatory , Locked Bag 194, Narrabri, NSW 2390, Australia
R.-J. Dettmar
Affiliation:
Astronomisches Institut, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstrasse 150/NA7, 44780 Bochum, Germany
R.P. van der Marel
Affiliation:
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
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Abstract

We present new results on extraplanar DIG (eDIG), based on high spatial resolution narrowband imaging observations of four late-type, actively star-forming edge-on spirals, obtained with ACS on-board HST. Our Hα observations reveal a multitude of structures on both small and large scales. Whereas all four galaxies have been studied with ground-based telescopes before, here the small scale structure of the extended emission line gas is presented for the very first time at a spatial resolution of 0.05′′, corresponding to 5 pc at the mean distance to our galaxies. The eDIG morphology is very different for all four targets, as a result of their different star formation activity and galaxy mass. There is a very smooth DIG morphology observed in two of the galaxies (NGC 4634 and NGC 5775), whereas the other two (NGC 4700 and NGC 7090) show a much more complex morphology with intricate filaments, and bubbles and supershells. We find that the morphology of the eDIG, in particular the break-up of diffuse emission into filaments in galaxy halos, shows a strong dependence on the level of star formation activity per unit area, and eDIG can be arranged into a morphological sequence.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2012

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