Minor axis rotation and the intrinsic shape of the shell elliptical NGC 3923

We present kinematic observations of NGC 3923, one of the best-known examples of an elliptical galaxy with shells. Although NGC 3923 has no rotation on its major axis, it has minor axis rotation with an amplitude of some 20 km s(-1) out to 25 arcsec radius. This is possibily the result of a kinematically decoupled core, but we present arguments against this hypothesis, and if the core were formed by a merger, this must have been a different merger from that which gave rise to the shells. The minor axis rotation suggests that NGC 3923 is prolate or triaxial, at least in the inner region. A prolate geometry for the whole galaxy would favour the merger model over the interaction model for the shell formation mechanism. There is other evidence, however, that the shape of the underlying galaxy changes with radius, in which case it is possible that the minor axis rotation could be confined to the galaxy core. The kinematics could reflect a triaxial mass distribution, in which the long and short axes are aligned with the photometric major and minor axes, and the axial ratios change such that the galaxy is near-prolate in the inner regions and near-oblate at larger radii. Measuring the rotation curve to about double this radius along the minor axis, as well as offset from the nucleus along the major axis at the radius of the innermost shells, would enable the true extent of the minor axis rotation to be determined.