Stars , H II regions , and shocked gas in the bar of NGC 1530

We analyse long slit spectra taken along and perpendicular to the bar of the galaxy NGC 1530. Our data show that the H ii regions, around young massive stars that form in the shock-compressed gas, share the same kinematics as the molecular gas in the x 2 orbits at the center of the galaxy. Along the bar, the H ii regions are in the post-shock zone, downstream of the dust lanes that contain molecular gas. Outside of the H ii regions in the bar is faint, diffuse, ionized gas with a low Hα / [NII] and Hα / [SII] line ratio, which confirms the presence of shocks in the bar and supports a shock origin of the dust lanes. The measured spatial variation of the Hα and [NII] line intensity is consistent with the distribution of molecular gas along the dust lanes and its high concentration near the first inner Lindblad resonance. From an I − B image, we derive the surface brightness along the bar which we interpret as the stellar distribution. We use these data to estimate the mass in the various structural components of the bar. The mass of the stars and gas in the bar is 4 × 10 10 M , or 12% of the total mass of the galaxy.