• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2011

We present a deep CCD imaging in B and V bands which allows us to analyze the vertical structure of NGC 4631. We derive the scale heights of the thin and thick disks at a variety of positions along the major axis of the disk. The scale heights of the thin disk are nearly constant while those of the thick disk tend to increase with increasing galactocentric distance. The mean scale heights of the thin disk derived from B and V images are similar to each other (~ 450 pc). Instead, those of the thick disk show a strong east-west asymmetry which is caused by the diffuse stellar emission that is most prominent in the north west regions above the disk plane. The ratio of scale heights ($z_{thick}/z_{thin}$) is about 2.5 in the east side of the disk. However, this ratio is greater than 4 for the thick disk above the disk plane in the west side of the galaxy.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.71.2-71.2
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• 2007