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Self-Gravitating Polar Ring Models

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2017

Linda S. Sparke*
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, U.K.

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In a number of SO galaxies, rings of gas, dust and stars are observed to lie roughly perpendicular to the galactic disc (e.g. Whitmore, these proceedings). The material sometimes forms a fairly broad annulus, and the ring appears nearly flat. Simple estimates suggest that differential precession will destroy a polar ring in much less than a Hubble time, implying that the observed structures have been formed only recently. It is then surprising that some of them are so regular, unless something acts to prevent their disruption.