Astronomical Applications Department, U.S. Naval Observatory thesis Page 51
37
of the bright complex in the northeast corner of the galaxy. The highest surface
brightness levels are found in this region,
F
U
V
=18.93 mag arcsec
,2
in a resolution
element 4
00
.
0
1
2
3
4
Radius (arcminutes)
25
24
23
22
µ
FUV
(mag arcsec
-2
)
Fig. 4.3. The FUV surface brightness pro le of Sextans A
This sample o ers little uniformity with regard to identifying FUV surface
brightness pro le characteristics for late-type low surface brightness systems. It is
a relatively heterogeneous group and does not follow either a characteristic R
1=4
law or a pure exponential. However, some general trends do emerge that could
have important implications in interpreting observations of galaxies at high red-
shift where the observed light is the redshifted UV continuum. The FUV surface
brightness pro les of these systems are generally at with in ections associated
with prominent star forming complexes. Each of the FUV pro les are plotted as
a function of normalized radius in Fig. 4.4 to illustrate the spatial relationship
