A method is proposed for the determination of the position and inclination angles of the plane of a spiral galaxy based on the assumption that every spiral arm is a monotonic function of the radius against azimuthal angle. This method may yield more accurate results than the more commonly employed isophote method, which is subject to a number of drawbacks. Analytical study, calibration against other methods and examples of application of the proposed method to real galaxies are presented.
Cone search capability for table J/MNRAS/403/1625/table1 (Positional and inclination angles obtained using MSA method for galaxies from the Ohio State University Bright Spiral Galaxy Survey)