Two high-velocity encounters of elliptical galaxies

This paper describes results obtained on a simulation of two high-velocity encounters of NGC 4782/4783 and NGC 2672/2673 binary elliptical galaxies which differ substantially in mass ratio (about 1 for the first pair, and about 10 for the second). CCD images and velocities obtained from digital spectra were used to constrain simulations of the galaxy collisions. The binary orbital elements, the orientation of the orbit in the sky, the time since pericenter, and the dynamical mass of the pair were derived. Results suggested that the dumb-bell galaxy NGC 4782/4783 is not a supermassive galaxy, as was claimed earlier on the basis of the high relative velocity and high central dispersion, but has a moderate mass to luminosity ratio M/L(B) of about 10. It was concluded that its trajectory changed from hyperbolic to elliptical as a result of energy lost during the collision. It was found that the NGC 2672/2673 also has a moderate M/L(B) of about 7.