IC 5240 - SB(r)a

IC 5240

De Vaucouleurs Atlas Type: SB(r)a

Filter: B

Telescope: CTIO 1.5-m
North up , East left
Field Dimensions: 3.0 x 2.3 arcminutes

RC3 Type: SB(r)a
RSA Type: SBa(r)
Surface Brightness Range Displayed: 18.0-26.0 mag per square arcsec
Absolute Blue Magnitude: -19.4

De Vaucouleurs Atlas Description:

The inner ring is exceptionally well-defined in this galaxy. The feature is completely closed and is one of the few true rings seen in early-type barred spiral galaxies. The bar is strong and shows an inner boxy zone, suggestive that that zone is three-dimensional. A leading dust lane lies in the narrow bar zone on the west side. A B-I color index map (Buta 1995) shows that the inner ring is a zone of enhanced blue colors, but that there is no nuclear star formation. An H-alpha image (Crocker, Baugus, and Buta 1996) shows that the ring is also lined with discrete HII regions , and that there is some diffuse ionized gas in the central area. The region beyond the inner ring is another interesting feature of this galaxy: the outer disk includes weak, knotty flocculent spiral structure, very uncharacteristic of early-type barred galaxies. A deprojected image (book Section 2.12, Figure 2.37) shows that the inner ring has an approximately circular intrinsic shape.