The bar in NGC 4596

The SBa galaxy NGC 4596 is characterized on the basis of CCD photometry obtained with a broad red filter on the 61-cm telescope at Whipple Observatory during January 1986 and long-slit CCD spectra obtained with the 4-m telescope at KPNO in May 1988 and with the MMT in March 1989. The results are presented graphically and analyzed in detail. Three components are identified: (1) an oblate spheroidal bulge with true ellipticity 0.26 and luminosity 4.7 x 10 to the 9th solar luminosities, (2) a 10.0 x 2.6-kpc rectangular bar with luminosity 6.7 x 10 to the 9th solar luminosities, and (3) a lens of constant intensity with luminosity 3.9 x 10 to the 9th solar luminosities out to a distance of 8.7 kpc. The characteristic slowdown time is calculated as 6-20 Gyr, and the velocity field is shown to deviate less from circular rotation than predicted by a simple dynamical model in which the disk kinematics are derived from an n-body simulation (Sparkle and Sellwood, 1987) and the bulge is assumed to be an oblate isotropic rotator. 31 refs