MORPHOLOGY, KINEMATICS, AND DYNAMICS OF BULGES OF SPIRALS .2. SURFACEPHOTOMETRY OF THE CENTRAL PART OF NGC-5055

The morphological properties of the central 1.9x2.8 arcmin region of N GC 5055 have been studied on the basis of BVRI and H alpha CCD imaging and photometry. Intensity and color profiles, together with isophotal contours have been analyzed and compared with kinematical data from h igh spatial resolution spectroscopy which was presented in a previous paper. A study is carried out on the extinction by dust in the galaxy. It is found that the extinction law can be obtained from the examinat ion of the colors of a set of 18 OB associations distributed across th e galaxy. In particular, we found that dust absorption along the spira l structure can be roughly reproduced by a linear outward decreasing l aw, with a central value of A(v) similar or equal to 3-4 mag. (C) 1996 American Astronomical Society.