Related papers: Stellar Dynamics and the implications on the merge…
Presented are spectroscopic emission and absorption line observations along the major axis of the Sb galaxy NGC 7331. The kinematics of the ionized gas and the stars appears to be regular, but contrary to what one might expect, the emission…
Multi-band images of the very isolated spiral galaxy NGC 5523 show a number of unusual features consistent with NGC 5523 having experienced a significant merger: (1) Near-infrared (NIR) images from the Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) and the…
We present a detailed spectral and imaging analysis of the central $15''$ radius ($\sim 7.5 \text{ kpc}$) region of the merger galaxy NGC 6240 that makes use of all the available \textit{Chandra}-ACIS data ($0.3 - 3 \text{ keV}$ effective…
Integral field spectroscopy in the K-band (1.9-2.4um) was performed on four IR-bright star clusters and the two nuclei in NGC 4038/4039 (``The Antennae''). Two of the clusters are located in the overlap region of the two galaxies, and…
Galactic nuclei are often found to contain young stellar populations and, in most cases, a central supermassive black hole (SMBH). Most known massive stars are found in binaries or higher-multiplicity systems, and in a galactic nucleus the…
We use simulations with realistic models for stellar feedback to study galaxy mergers. These high resolution (1 pc) simulations follow formation and destruction of individual GMCs and star clusters. The final starburst is dominated by in…
We present new dynamical models of the merger remnant NGC 7252 which include star formation simulated according to various phenomenological rules. By using interactive software to match our model with the observed morphology and gas…
We have studied the central parts of seven early-type galaxies -- the members of the X-ray-bright galaxy group NGC 80 -- by means of integral-field spectroscopy at the Russian 6m telescope. We searched for signatures of synchronous…
We present wide field-of-view near-infrared imaging from the NTT and very deep optical imaging from the HST of the young merging galaxy NGC 3597. The morphology of the galaxy and the properties of the newly formed proto-globular clusters…
In dense stellar clusters like galactic nuclei and globular clusters stellar densities are so high that stars might physically collide with each other. In galactic nuclei the energy and power output can be close, and even exceed, to those…
We summarize some recent results from our observational campaign to study the central regions of spiral galaxies of late Hubble type (Scd - Sm). These disk-dominated, bulgeless galaxies have an apparently uneventful merger history. The…
We present the results of the spectral investigation of the regular Sb galaxy NGC 7331 with the Multi-Pupil Field Spectrograph of the 6m telescope. The absorption-line indices H-beta, Mgb, and <Fe> are mapped to analyse the properties of…
We present NGC 6221 as a case study of ``X-ray loud composite galaxies,'' which appear similar to starbursts at optical wavelengths and resemble traditional active galactic nuclei in X-rays. The net optical spectrum of NGC 6221 is properly…
We use numerical simulation to investigate the triggering of starbursts in merging disk galaxies. The properties of the merger-driven starbursts are sensitive to the structure of the progenitor galaxies; specifically, to the amount of…
We present ROSAT observations of the starburst galaxy NGC 2782 (HRI plus a weak PSPC frame) and the ultraluminous infrared galaxy NGC 6240 (PSPC). The (0.1-2.4) keV spectra of both objects appear similar. However, due to better sampling…
We report on our new analysis of the spatial and kinematical distribution of warm and cold molecular gas in NGC 6240, which was undertaken to explore the origin of its unusually luminous H$_2$ emission. By comparing three-dimensional…
We present new resolved near and mid-IR imaging and N-band spectroscopy of the two nuclei in the merger system NGCA3256, the most IR luminous galaxy in the nearby universe. The results from the SED fit to the data are consistent with…
We present K-band spectroscopy for several regions of three nearby spiral galaxies, NGC 613, NGC 628 and NGC 7741. Analysis of the depth of the 2.293 micron CO absorption feature in these spectra reveals that some regions have deep…
We used a set of moderately-deep and high-resolution optical observations obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope to investigate the properties of the stellar population in the heavily obscured bulge globular cluster NGC 6256. The analysis…
Recent high-quality Hubble Space Telescope (HST) photometry shows that the main sequences (MS) stars of young star clusters form two discrete components in the color-magnitude diagram (CMD). Based on their distribution in the CMD, we show…