STELLAR POPULATIONS IN EDGE-ON GALAXIES FROM DEEP CCD SURFACE PHOTOMETRY .2. ONE-DIMENSIONAL FITS OF NGC-891

We present deep R-band CCD surface photometry of the nearby edge-on sp iral NGC 891, which bears many similarities to the Milky Way, Our data confirm van der Kruit & Searle's (1981, A&A, 110, 61) finding that NG C 891 has a thick disk. We use one-dimensional fits of exponential dis k models to averaged vertical profiles to show that this popular techn ique has a major drawback: it does not produce unique solutions when t wo or more stellar components are present, and no component dominates in the regions studied. For this galaxy, adequate fits are possible fo r thin disk scale heights ranging from 400-650 pc and thick disk scale heights from 1.5-2.5 kpc. Our next paper will use full two-dimensiona l modeling of the image to improve the fits, Although NGC 891 and the Milky Way have similar rotation curves and presumably similar total ma sses, and their disks have similar radial extent, NGC 891's disk and t hick disk are both significantly more extended in the vertical directi on. We suggest that the more extended thin disk may be caused by more efficient heating by NGC 891's more massive and thicker molecular clou d layer, The large thick disk scale height is harder to explain in the context of recent n-body simulations of thick disk formation via mino r mergers, and shows the need for a more extensive exploration of para meter space in these models. (C) 1997 American Astronomical Society.