Date of Award

6-2014

Document Type

Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Physics and Astronomy

First Advisor

Catherine Kaleida

Second Advisor

Rolf Jansen

Third Advisor

Jonathan Marr

Language

English

Keywords

galaxies, color, data, sample, formation

Abstract

To better understand the properties of high redshift galaxies and improve models of galaxy formation, we are investigating color radial profiles to study the stellar age, dust and metallicity distribution of galaxies of varying lumi-nosities and morphological types. Current data obtained in the optical and UV have shown that early-type galaxies have a flat color profile, or are bluer at larger radii, while late-type spirals are redder with increasing radius. These trends are believed to be linked with stellar population ages or dust. To break the age-dust degeneracy as well as to avoid the metallicity dependence, we have obtained near-infrared images of Nearby Field Galaxy Survey (NFGS) galax-ies taken with the PISCES Wide-field Infrared Camera on the 90-inch Bok Telescope. Combined with the optical and UV data, these new, near-infrared images will help better constrain these parameters and determine the ages of the stellar components of the galaxies. We discuss the method used to process and reduce the data and present the radial profile of the surface brightness and color of one particular galaxy in the sample, UGC 439.

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