NGC 2841 - SA(r)b

NGC 2841

De Vaucouleurs Atlas Type: SA(r)b

Filter: B

Telescope: KPNO 2.1-m
North up , East left
Field Dimensions: 10.4 x 10.4 arcminutes

RC3 Type: SA(r:)b
RSA Type: Sb
Surface Brightness Range Displayed: 16.0-26.0 mag per square arcsec
Absolute Blue Magnitude: -20.8

De Vaucouleurs Atlas Description:

This bright galaxy, a prototype of the flocculent spirals (Sandage 1961; Kormendy and Norman 1979; Elmegreen and Elmegreen 1984), has a large bulge and only piece-wise continous spiral arms. The high inclination causes the near side of the minor axis to show more patchiness compared to the far side, with features broken up by dust. The continuous linear spiral segment just to the east of center is actually a dust feature also, made visible as a bright arc by scattered bulge light (Block et al. 1999b). The nature of NGC 2841 's spiral structure makes it difficult to assign a variety, but the B-V color index map reveals an inner ring, or at least an inner blue boundary, confirming what de Vaucouleurs had originally suspected. The ring is, however, very weak in blue light and may be defined by dust.

Kormendy and Norman (1979) argued that spiral structure like that seen in NGC 2841 develops in a differentially rotating galaxy that lacks either a bar or a close companion.