The Remarkable Central Structure of the Barred Galaxy NGC 1415

Abstract

A remarkable structure is observed in the innermost regions of the barred galaxy NGC 1415 : a small stellar bar, bright circumnuclear ionized gas seen in Halpha, two bright ionized gas sources, seen in Halpha, just beyond the ends of the small bar and a boxy distribution of optical continuum. We have developed a mass distribution model consisting in disk, a bulge, and a bar to approximate t he observed central morphology and its surface brightness. In order to reproduce the observed optical brightness distribution a two-component bar was used, with one component to model the elongated isophotes of the bar and the second component to model the boxy-shaped isophotes. We interpret the circumnuclear ionized gas as forming a circumnuclear ring and the two bright sources as a nuclear and/or circumnuclear outflow slightly out of the plane of the disk.

19 pages, 29 figures. To be published in February 2000, ApJ, 529