Surface photometry and radial colour gradient analysis in the Sb galaxy

NGC 7331
Camille Bilger
2010 November 1
University of St Andrews, cb625@st-andrews.ac.uk
Abstract
This paper presents a detailed photometric study of the large, nearby Sb galaxy NGC 7331. We made use
of surface photometry to trace the light profile of NGC 7331 from the innermost regions out to a projected
radius of 250 arcseconds (17.4 kpc) where V = 26 mg/arcsec2 and R = 25.5 mg/arcsec2 . The lack of resolution
in our data above this limit did not allow us to resolve and analyse the entire galaxy, which is believed to be
extending up to 24.2 kpc. We fitted a Sersic curve to the surface brightness profiles in the R and V and found
some Sersic indices rather small for a classical bulge and pseudobulge. The Sersic fits may have revealed the
presence of a bar, or a pseudobulge greatly inclined (n=0.25). Objective comparison of the V-band and R-band
surface brightness along the major axis indicates no significant difference in shape between the two passbands
in spite of the different stellar populations each band emphasises. Our estimation of MN GC7331 = 20.0 is close
to the accepted value. Finally, the colour gradient does not significantly decreases as the bulge contribution is
less prominent than it should be. In spite of that, it smoothly drops from
=4500 onwards, and is in concord with
the finding of a dust ring by S. Bianchi et al. at this radius.
Key words: galaxies: individual (NGC 7331)-galaxies: photometry-galaxies: colour gradient

Introduction

An essential step towards putting the morphology of

galaxies in a quantitative basis is the measurement of
galaxies surface brightness distributions. The latter is
strongly correlated with the Hubble type of a galaxy.
If the surface brightness is measured along the major
axis of a galaxys image, it is found that bright elliptical
galaxies have surface brightness profiles that are well
fitted by a de Vaucouleurs law, or R1/4 law. By contrast, the surface brightness profile of a spiral galaxy,
outside its central bulge, is typically well fitted by an
exponential law. The complexity of these systems can
be great, as for in addition to a disk, we may encounter a
bulge, pseudo bulge, and/or a bar. Surface photometry
allows astronomers to build a surface brightness profiles of extended objects like galaxies. This is achieved
by mapping out contours of constant intensity I called
isophotes. This is a surprisingly difficult undertaking for
several reasons: the sky is never completely dark and
the atmosphere is never completely transparent. Sur- Figure 1: Optical image of NGC 7331 from the Nasa Exface photometry is the key to generate colour gradients tragalactic Database, NED. North at top, East at left.
of galaxies, which are in return a signature for stellar
components. Light profiles together with colour gradients are aiming to constrain galaxy assembly processes. This
paper is part of the data release of the University of St Andrews Galaxy Survey 2010. We conducted analysis of the
surface brightness profile in the R and V bands of NGC 7331 that we obtained while exploiting the James Gregory
Telescope. We then obtained the colour gradient (V-R) accordingly. NGC 7331 has been observed many times, both

OBSERVATIONS AND DATA REDUCTION

photometrically and spectroscopically; but results of each new approach contradicted often the results of previous
ones. In section 2 of this paper, we report our observations and the method by which we reduced our images. We
briefly describe our methodology and error analysis, as well as presenting NGC 7331 light profiles in section 3. In
section 4 we probe Sersic profile fits and discuss the Sersic indices and scalengths they contain. Finally, in section
5, we discuss the implications of the colour gradient, before summarising our results.

2
2.1

Observations and data reduction

Galaxy selection

NGC 7331 is a massive Sb spiral galaxy greatly inclined lying in the constellation of Pegasus, which allows us to
observe in great details its admirable bulge and disk. As our survey took part within the University of St Andrews,
we had to account for the location of the galaxy we wanted to look at. NGC 7331 (z=0.00272) was a perfect
candidate as it is lying in the Northern hemisphere with a right ascension and declination that was allowing us to
observe it at night (after 10.00 pm UTC+1). A photograph of the galaxy is given in Figure 1. For convenience a
summary of its main parameters is presented in Table 1. Furthermore, the galactic latitude (i.e. galactic declination)
had to be greater than +30 in order to observe our target above the galactic plane, to prevent looking through the
dust lane of our galaxy.

Table 1: Description of NGC 7331

2.2

Observations

The observations of NGC 7331 which results are presented in this paper have been undertaken on October 5, 2010,
at St Andrews University Observatory, using the optical James Gregory Telescope (0.94 m) under good but partly
cloudy, atmospheric conditions. The JGT was equipped with a CCD 600 x 400 at the Schmidt-Cassegrain focus.
The temperature of the telescope has been cooled down to 48 degrees Kelvin as CCDs benefit from working at
lower temperatures (to avoid dark current). This chip had a pixel size of 1 sqarcsec, and a readout noise of 6.6
electrons was used with a gain (conversion factor) of 5.2 electrons/ADU on both occasions. Moreover, the CCD
had a potential well charge i.e. saturation limit of 100 000 electrons (or 22 000 counts). The red spectral range, of
central wavelength 641 nm, has been exposed during 600 s, after a 1-minute exposure that allowed us to calibrate
more efficiently the telescope and place the target at the centre of the field of view. The blue spectral range, of
central wavelength 545 nm, has been exposed during 600 s. The exposure for the galaxy has been taken long enough
to provide a signal-to-noise ratios of 5 in the R-band, and S/N=1.8 in the V. The sky has been exposed separately
and subtracted from the galaxy frame (see section 2.3). Unfortunately, the data were deep enough only up to a
radius of 250 (17.4kpc), we were unable to resolve NGC 7331 above that limit (see section 3).

2.3

Data handling

Photochemical processes in the atmosphere produces air glow, which was even more significant where our observations took place, due to the sodium radiation from the street lamps. The zodiacal light, in addition, scatters
sunlight from interplanetary dust. Faint stars from the Milky Way, unresolved galaxies and moonlight are three
other components that can affect our measurements., which will be meaningless unless the brightness of the night
sky can be determined. Together these components shed more light towards us than all the resolved targets put
together. Typical sky values are 20.9 mg/arcsec2 in the R band, and 21.8 mg/arcsec2 the V band (NOAO newsletter
37,1994). The BIAS level of a CCD frame which ensures that the Analogue-to-Digital Converter (ADC) always
2

DATA AND RESULTS

receives a positive signal must be removed if the data values are to be truly representative of the counts recorded
per pixel. It must be subtracted from all images, before any other processing. The basic reduction steps bias subtraction and flat fielding, have been fulfilled by using the FIGARO package and the CCD Data Reduction Package.
We generated a mean master bias frame by averaging over 30 individual bias frames for each passband. The bias
reduction reduces any read out noise and cosmic ray hits. We also divided the de-biased data by a flat-field image
for each filter, which corrected for the variation in sensitivity from pixel to pixel.

Data and results

3.1

Methodology

We made use of the GAIA image display package to

visualise our V and R photometric data. First, interfering foreground/background objects are identified in
each image and masked manually, to prevent them from
affecting the light profile. Moreover, we estimated the
mean background count as well as its standard deviation to be 7724.16 55.66 in the R band and 5100.80
43.77 in the V band. Then, isophotes are sampled
equally spaced by a separation factor of 0.5. An ellipse
is then fitted to each isophote by least squares (Figure
2). The software determines six parameters for each ellipse of which three will be useful to us: the number
of points, the mean radius and the number of counts. Figure 2: Surface photometry in GAIA in the R. Black
Those are stored into a file. Beside all the above, we circles indicates patched regions.
used Supermongo as our graphic interface and wrote our
own scripts for it.

3.2

Surface Brightness profiles

We now report the derivation of the equation we used to plot the surface brightness of NGC 7331 versus its radius
in arcseconds. By definition,
m = constant 2.5 log (I) where m stands for magnitude and I for intensity.
= 30 2.5 log

I
N

Note that we made use of the wavelength dependent zero point calibration K=30 for both filters. Moreover, the
total intensity we measure is equal to the number of pixels (N) times the number of counts per pixel. Besides, one
pixel is taken to be equal to one square arcsecond, hence the counts per pixel are equal to the counts per square
arcsecond. The surface brightness is then calculated and plotted using,
= 30 2.5 log (counts)
Error sources are of two kinds: random errors that are due to the variation from pixel to pixel, and systematic
errors that arise mainly from the measuring instruments and the effects of flux calibration. CCDs have a bad
resolution
each corner of the chip. Hence we used,
q at P
P
= N1
(xi x
)2 and rand = Ny where xi denotes a background count and y its standard deviation
to compute our errors. The followings describe how we included them in the computation of :
rand = 30 2.5 log (counts

rand
)
n

sys = 30 2.5 log (counts sys)

Figure 3. reports our results both in the R and V. We resolved our galaxy up to 26000 (18.29 kpc) in the R, and
250 (17.4 kpc) in the V. [4] have found a radius of 24.2 kpc, in accordance with the shallowness of our data. We
note a similar decaying shape for both of the passbands at the exception of their central surface brightness which
we did expect as the centre of the galaxy is brighter in the R. In the R, the central surface brightness appears to be
00

3.3

Sersic fitting

(a)

DATA AND RESULTS

(b)

Figure 3: a) The measured brightness profile of NGC 7331 (black curve) from JGT data in the R band. b) The
measured brightness profile of NGC 7331 (black curve) from JGT data in the V band The blue lines show the
components of a decomposition into the bulge, pseudobulge and outer disk components. A solid magenta line fits
the sum of the components
18.8 mg/arcsec2 (i.e 18.8R for convenience of writing). The scalelength is the point at which the surface brightness
has dropped by 1.08R (or by e1 for an intensity profile). Here R is most likely to be equal to 1500 (0.8 kpc) (see
Appendix A for the conversion method from arcseconds to parsecs). In the V, the central surface brightness appears
to be 19.6V . V is most likely to be equal to 100 too. The random errors within 240< r < 250are approximately
0.1 0.1 mg/arcsec2 , whereas the systematic errors increase up to 0.4 0.1 mg/arcsec2 near the edges. R and
V are nearly always separated by 1 mg/arcsec2 . We will discuss more on the relation between the two profiles
when we come to analysing the colour gradient (V-R) in section 4. There is a tendency in the R-band for a sudden
decrease in the surface brightness at large radii. If we could extend our data range up to 34000 , we might note a
disk truncation, that has been questionned in [[8]].

3.3

S
ersic fitting

Sersic0 s (1963) R1/n model is commonly expressed as an intensity profile:

1

I(r) = I0 exp ( r ) N
Where r is the radius from the centre of the galaxy and is the scalelength. n is the Sersic index. However the
photometric results are in the units of magnitude, which by definition should be converted from intensity with the
formula:
(r) = 2.5 log I(r)
So the actual form of the Sersic empirical formula that are used in the fitting is:
1

= 0 + 1.08( r ) n
It is well known that surface brightness profiles of intermediate-type galaxies are not well described by singlecomponent models. The Sersic fittings are presented in Figure 4. In table 2 and 3 we list the photometric results.
We recovered interesting results regarding the components0 photometric parameters: the bulge doesnt have a Sersic

COLOUR GRADIENT

Table 2: Photometric results in the R band

R
Errors
Bulge
Disk
PseudoBulge/Bar

(kpc)

ranR
55.66

18.9
21.7
24.0

10
70
75

0.7
4.9
5.3

1.20
1.00
0.25

R
18.31

Table 3: Photometric results in the V band

V
Errors
Bulge
Disk
PseudoBulge/Bar

(kpc)

19.6
22.5
25.0

10
70
70

0.7
4.9
4.9

1.00
1.00
0.25

ranR
43.77

R
16.19

index of n=4, like de Vaucouleurs0 law predicts it. It has in fact an index of 1.20 in the R-band and of 1.00 in the
V-band. These very low estimations are probably due to a bad resolution of the very inner centre of NGC 7331
that doesnt appear as compact as it should be. Indeed, Figure 7a clearly demonstrates it. The inner region is
flattened out by seeing which limits the resolution of the surface brightness at the very centre of the galaxy. Also,
our atmosphere must be blurring the image; improvements could be achieved by a Point Spread Function (PSF)
fitting. When doing photometry on crowded fields, photometry will not yield reliable results. If we were to use a
PSF fitting, the central bulge would be better resolved. In spite of that, the bulge component we fitted dominates
the light profile up to 4000 , in accord with previous finding [[2]], and the colour gradient presented in section 4.
The slight mismatch between the data and the model at radii greater than 22000 occurs where the random and
systematic errors are the greatest. On the other hand, the surface brightness at large radii obeys an exponential
law (n=1): the disk component dominates. We fitted a slope to the data perfectly over 11000 < r < 20000 in the R,
and almost perfectly in the V. Finally, the third component necessary to the fitting seems to have a Sersic index of
0.25. Its contribution lies below the two others. This 00 n regime00 is typical of bars. However, we cannot affirm the
existence of this bar. Several studies have proved it right [[5]] while others didnt [[3]]. In addition, the resolution of
the centre is not accurate enough for us to detect a bar. What this index might also be revealing is a pseudobulge
seen at high inclination. If the pseudobulge is seen almost edge-on - which is the case here - it will appear squashed,
and its profile will indeed resemble the one of a bar. In addition, we only fitted one exponential law to the data, so
we might suggest that their is only one thin disk component in the galaxy, and no thick disk.
We would like now to have an idea of the measured absolute magnitude M of NGC 7331, by summing those
of its individual constituents; and comparing it to its accepted value. To do this we use the V-band photometric
results. A useful formula that connects apparent magnitude to directly measurable structural parameters [[11]] is
given by:
m = 0 5 log () 2.5 log [(2n!)]
And using, m M = 5 log d + 25, we can recover the absolute magnitude of each component. We summarise
the latter in table 4. Now, we cannot add magnitude that easily. We need to make use of:
M = 2.5 log [100.4M + 100.4M + 100.4M ]
We evaluated Mngc7331 to be -20.0, which is a rather satisfying result.

Colour gradient

Figure 5 shows the (V-R) colour profile constructed from the individual V and R surface brightness profiles, along
the radial axis of NGC 7331 in arcseconds (Fig 5) and in kpc (Fig 6). The (V-R) colour map reveals a relatively
constant colour (
=0.8 mag) in the outer region of the galaxy and a strikingly red peak of
= 1.1 mag located at
00

= 10 . This non-obvious change in color might be due to the bad resolution in the R of the central red bulge that
should be redder due to its older stellar population. The inner-part colour seems to be dominated by the bulge up
5

(a) R-band

COLOUR GRADIENT

(b) V-band

Figure 4: Our observed data in the R and V (black curve) are overlaid by a Sersic profile (magenta curve) which
is a sum of the three galactic components (blue curves). The Pseudobulge/bar legend is discussed in section 3.3.

Table 4: Absolute magnitudes

Bulge
Disk
PseudoBulge/Bar
Accepted

m
12.6
11.3
14.6
10.4

M
-18.3
-19.6
-16.3
-20.5

SUMMARY

Figure 5: Colour gradient (V-R) of NGC 7331 versus its radius in arcsecs and the four set of uncertainties.
to 45 00 . Rather remarkably, the colour is bluer in the very inner arcseconds, before peaking at 1.1 mag (500 ), and
dropping again down to 0.95 mag. Since this galaxy has been suggested to harbor a black hole in its centre [[2]],
this opposite gradient is probably caused by AGN and/or associated starburst activity in the central part of the
galaxy [[6]]. Afanasiev et al. (1989) have examined the major-axis profile of line-of-sight velocities of the ionized
gas and have found that the central 200 are kinematically decoupled by fast solid-body rotation which may be
caused by compact mass concentration. This scale is in accordance with the blue depth we measure on Figure 5
and 6. However, we keep in mind that the resolutions achieved in this survey, does not allow us to abide by this
single conclusion. It could as well be noise in our data, or a sharper V band on the telescope than the R band. Also
when comparing Figures 7 a and b, we understand that our observations of the very centre of NGC 7331 did not
quite go right. Indeed, the bulge looks just like the disk, there is no apparent change of colour. At 40 00 (4 kpc),
the colour gradient starts to smoothly decrease and levels off to a constant value of
=0.8 mag at 11 kpc within the
extent of the uncertainties. As for the uncertainties, we decided to look at a set of four of them. The effect of the
systematic errors in the V band on the R band gives rise to the wider spread, with an uncertainty of 5 mag at
24000 . The random errors, as through our entire analysis, are the smallest, partly because we are not reaching the
true edge of NGC 7331.The legend on Figure 5a gives more indications.
NGC 73310 s bulge is outlined by a ring of actively forming stars, a curious ring of molecular gas coupled with
newly formed stars that extends outward some 4500 (3.3 kpc) from the core [[9]]; in strong correlation with the
measured decrease in (V-R) at this radius on Fig 5b. The ring is not visible in optical images but is strongly
apparent at infrared wavelength, which shows the myriad of young stars. We bear in mind that colour indices of
distant objects are usually affected by interstellar extinction i.e. there is a red colour excess.

Summary

We can summarize our work as follows. In the galaxy NGC 7331, the disk dominates the majority of the radius
range. The bulge is not as prominent as we expected it to be, which could be due to bad data resolution in the
inner kiloparsecs. It can be traced up to R
=4500 (3.3 kpc), with (V-R) increasing over that range. The bluer inner
arcseconds are in good correspondence with other observations that indicated the presence of a black hole. The
colour gradient begins to drop smoothly at a radius of
= 3 kpc, where the bulge contribution drops below the one
of the disk. Combining our analysis with the optical image of NGC 7331, we appreciate this very small decrease,
as there is no clear colour difference between the disk and the bulge. [[9]] have identified a star-forming ring at this
precise location which makes the measured colour gradient even more interesting.
NGC 7331 is unique in the respect that it has striking similarities to the Milky Way, its so-called twin galaxy.
They have many features in common, including number of stars, mass, spiral arm pattern and star-formation rate
7

SUMMARY

Figure 6: Colour gradient (V-R) of NGC 7331 versus its radius in kpc.

(a)

(b)

Figure 7: a) The optical image of NGC 7331 we obtained while exploiting our data. b) An optical image from
Astronomy Picture of The Day (2006 July 27)

REFERENCES

of a few stars per year. As a result it is important for us to be able to study it to understand our own structure
and history.
NGC 7331 is even more interesting that it is an example of a galaxy that has a bulge that rotates retrograde
to its disk [[7]]. Different simulations have been proposed to explain it: the creation of a central counterrotating
body as a result of a stellar merger (Balcells and Quinn 1990), a central component that formed as a result of
instability in a disk of counterrotating stars, where the disk has been accreted by infalling material; or, the bulge
could have been formed together with the disk from one protogalactic cloud, which seems highly improbable due
to conservation of angular momentum.

Appendix - Distance to NGC 7331 and units conversion

The distance to NGC 7331 is computed using Hubbles law v = H0 d, v being the recessional velocity of the galaxy.
Additionally, z = vc , where z=0.00272 [[12]]. Therefore, v = 816 kms1 and d = 14.9 Mpc, using H0 = 55
kms1 M pc1 . New Cepheid distances show that there are numerous redshift distances with large excesses that
cannot be due to peculiar velocities. Ignoring these discordant redshifts, if the Hubble constant is calibrated with
Cepheid distances of low-redshift spirals, then a value near H0 = 55 is obtained [[10]]. Then, we first convert

; before applying the small angle formula tan

arcseconds into radians by the means of: = arcsecond 180360
r
= d that will lead us to an expression of the radius r in kiloparsecs as d is taken to be in kiloparsecs.

References
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[3] Roelof Bottema, The kinematics of the bulge and the disc of NGC 7331. AA, arXiv:astro-ph/9902240v1, 1999.
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