The Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey: IV. Resolved dust analysis of spiral galaxies

TL;DR

This study uses Herschel's high-resolution far-infrared imaging to analyze the spatial distribution of dust temperature and mass in three large spiral galaxies within the Virgo Cluster, revealing detailed dust properties.

Contribution

It provides the first resolved dust temperature and mass maps for these galaxies, demonstrating Herschel's capability for detailed dust analysis in cluster environments.

Findings

Dust temperature ranges from 19 to 22 K, peaking away from galaxy centers.

Dust mass distribution is symmetrical with a peak at the galaxy centers.

Dust properties vary spatially within the galaxies.

Abstract

We present a resolved dust analysis of three of the largest angular size spiral galaxies, NGC 4501 and NGC 4567/8, in the Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey (HeViCS) Science Demonstration field. Herschel has unprecedented spatial resolution at far-infrared wavelengths and with the PACS and SPIRE instruments samples both sides of the peak in the far infrared spectral energy distribution (SED).We present maps of dust temperature, dust mass, and gas-to-dust ratio, produced by fitting modified black bodies to the SED for each pixel. We find that the distribution of dust temperature in both systems is in the range ~19 - 22 K and peaks away from the centres of the galaxies. The distribution of dust mass in both systems is symmetrical and exhibits a single peak coincident with the galaxy centres. This Letter provides a first insight into the future analysis possible with a large sample of resolved galaxies to be observed by Herschel.