Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Spectroscopy of 12 nucleated dwarf elliptical (dE) galaxies has been performed using the Palomar 5 m and the " 2D-FRUITTI" detector. These spectra have a resolution of 2 A and cover the wavelength range 3500-4500 A. From these spectra we can derive radial velocities that are accurate to ~ 50 km s^-1^. The strengths of the Ca II K line in relation to Balmer line strength closely match that observed in metal-rich galactic globulars like 47 Tucanae, although the Balmer lines are slightly stronger. The typical Balmer line (Hδ) equivalent width is 1. 8 A. These line strengths make it unlikely that the nuclei are either very metal-poor or the site of recent star formation (like the case of NGC 205), but it is possible that the Balmer lines represent an extended main sequence (e. g. , late F stars) due to a younger mean age than is found for luminous Es or metal-rich Galactic globulars. The velocity distribution of the dEs does not resemble that of the luminous Es and S0s in Virgo. Instead, like all other low-luminosity galaxies in Virgo, this distribution is quite broad. In fact, our data set contains two dE galaxies with velocities less than -600 km s^-1^. Curiously, all the negative velocity dEs are concentrated in a small subgroup within the Virgo Cluster.
Bothun et al. (Fri,) studied this question.