A method for determining the dust distribution in edge-on, late Hubble type, spiral galaxies from their surface photometry is described. The method assumes that both the stars and the dust are distributed isothermally in the direction perpendicular to the galactic plane with scale heights z(s) and z(d) respectively, and exponentially in the radial direction with corresponding scale lengths h(s) and h(d). By comparing the observed surface photometry and the model calculations in which the radiative transfer is treated properly, z(s), z(d), h(s), and h(d) can be determined, as well as the optical depth along the line of sight and the central brightness. As a demonstration, the method is applied to NGC 891. The extension of the method to early-type spiral galaxies and to inclination angles less than 90 deg is described.
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Kylafis et al. (1987) studied this question.