Spin parity of spiral galaxies. IV. Differential reddening of globular cluster systems of nearby spiral galaxies

Abstract

The north-west side of the disk of M 31 is known as the near side because of the differential reddening of globular clusters found from their photographic photometry. This paper reports a simple geometric model to evaluate the visibility of the effect and its application to published CCD photometry on globular cluster systems of three spiral galaxies, M 31, M 33, and NGC 253. The color difference of globular cluster systems due to differential reddening was confirmed for M 31 and NGC 253; however, the data for M 33 were insufficient. The analysis reaffirms the currently adopted interpretation that the side on the minor axis of the galactic disk, where more conspicuous dust features and interstellar reddening are visible, is the nearer side to us and provides an additional basis for using spiral galaxies with identified spiral windings, S-wise or Z-wise, to study the large-scale spin distribution of galaxies in the universe.