Description
NIR observations reveal that dust extinction does almost not influence the shape of bulges. There is no substantial difference between the shape of bulges in the optical and in the NIR. Our analysis reveals that 45% of all bulges are box- and peanut-shaped (b/p). The frequency of b/p bulges for all morphological types from S0 to Sd is >40%. In particular, this is for the first time that such a large frequency of b/p bulges is reported for galaxies as late as Sd. The fraction of the observed b/p bulges is large enough to explain the origin of b/p bulges by a barred potential (Luetticke et al., 2000, A&A, accepted).
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