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The intrinsic shape of the dwarf elliptical galaxies is examined. Two methods are applied to the sample of 98 dwarf elliptical galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. One is to estimate the intrinsic flattening distribution from the apparent-flattening distribution. The other is to estimate the spatial shape from the relation between the apparent flattening and surface brightness. The result of both methods are consistent with the intrinsic shape of dwarf elliptical galaxies being the oblate spheroid with a mean axial ratio of 0.6, if there is no relation between intrinsic shape and intrinsic surface brightness. It seems that dwarf elliptical galaxies have shapes similar to normal elliptical galaxies. The absence of the correlation between the apparent axial ratio and the luminosity in both normal and dwarf elliptical galaxies suggests that all the "elliptical" galaxies have similar shapes.
Shinichi Ichikawa (Thu,) studied this question.