1996A&A...309..403M

The peculiar Sbc-type starburst galaxy NGC 3310 (= Arp 217) was observed with the Taurus imaging spectrometer in the Hα emission line and imaged directly in the B, V, R and I bands with a Schmidt telescope and a wide-field CCD camera. High-resolution maps of the distribution and velocity field of the ionised gas were constructed from the Taurus data, fully covering the inner ∼1.4' of radius and the entire velocity range of the gas. The deep CCD images clearly show a complex system of faint, extended shells or arc-like structures at large radii (∼1' to 3') around the galaxy. The Hα velocity data agree well with published spectroscopy and with recent HI results. The existence of two near-nuclear areas of clearly non-Gaussian emission line profiles, reported recently from long-slit Hα work, is confirmed and the areas are more precisely delineated. These features are due to gas streaming along the strong spiral shocks in the inner regions.