The Fundamental Plane of Early-Type Galaxies

¹ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, vía Láctea s/n, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
² Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
³ CRAL, 9 avenue Charles André, 69230 Saint Genis Laval, France
⁴ University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
⁵ European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching, Germany
⁶ Gemini Observatory, 670 N. A’ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720, USA
⁷ Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Postbus 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
⁸ University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Herts AL1 9AB, UK
⁹ University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, USA

Abstract

We report recent results from the photometric follow-up study we are conducting in the context of the SAURON project. We use ground-based MDM V −band and Spitzer/IRAC 3.6 μm imaging to characterise our sample of E, S0 and Sa galaxies photometrically. Combined with SAURON integral-field spectroscopic observations, this information allows us to explore and understand the location of these galaxies on the Fundamental Plane relation, providing an important diagnostic tool to study their formation and evolution.