A Bar Model for the Galactic Bulge

J A Sellwood

Abstract:

Bars in galaxies acquire a pronounced peanut shape when seen from the side. It is shown that the peanut-shaped bar in a 3-D N-body model has an appearance closely resembling the COBE image of the Milky Way bulge, when viewed from within the disc. Moreover, the projected velocity distribution is not far from isotropic, in agreement with modern kinematic data. Although the model is not a perfect match to the Milky Way, it exhibits a straightforward mechanism for the formation of the observed shape of the Milky Way ``bulge'' and provides a further argument in favour of a bar in the Galaxy.

• Formation of the N-body Bar
• Projected density from within the disc
• Kinematics
• Discussion
• References
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