Abstract
The central regions of galaxies are magical ‘dumping places’ where the archeologist-astronomer may uncover fascinating aspects of the formation and subsequent evolution of galaxies. Insights can be gained into the nature of supermassive black holes, the last bursts of star formation, recurrent nuclear activity, violent relaxation, as well as unmistakable signatures of merging processes. The usual terminology christened the central part of the stellar distribution of galaxies that defines the form of their central potential as the ‘core’. Within the core, there may exist another body, directly seen so far only in our Galaxy and the most nearby galaxies, M 31 and M 32 (and possibly a few others): the ‘nucleus’. These nuclei (when they exist) have a scale of ≃ 10 pc, a scale unresolved from the ground at the distance of, e.g. the Virgo Cluster, while cores, according to the usual terminology, may extend up to 1 kpc.
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Nieto, JL. (1992). Central Regions of Early-Type Galaxies. In: Longo, G., Capaccioli, M., Busarello, G. (eds) Morphological and Physical Classification of Galaxies. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 178. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2522-2_6
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