Astronomy

A galaxy’s light profile

Change the balance of disk and bulge. View the resulting three-dimensional galaxy and compare the exponential disk’s enclosed light with a Sérsic bulge.

By Mykhailo Makarov

Actual application image

The model and its limits

Analytic light profiles and a sampled illustrative 3D galaxy; the Sérsic projected profile is extruded into a flattened spheroid, not deprojected. Morphology is prescribed; this does not simulate galaxy formation or stellar population evolution.

Equations used in the module

Equations
I_disk ∝ exp(-r/h); L(<r)/L = 1-(1+r/h)e^(-r/h); I_b ∝ exp[-b_n((r/R_e)^(1/n)-1)]

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