  The mid-infrared emission from 18 nearby galaxies imaged with the IRAC
instrument on Spitzer Space Telescope samples the spatial distributions of the
reddening-free stellar photospheric emission and the warm dust in the ISM.
These two components provide a new framework for galaxy morphological
classification, in which the presence of spiral arms and their emission
strength relative to the starlight can be measured directly and with high
contrast. Four mid-infrared classification methods are explored, three of which
are based on quantitative global parameters (colors, bulge-to-disk ratio)
similar to those used in the past for optical studies; in this limited sample,
all correlate well with traditional B-band classification. We suggest reasons
why infrared classification may be superior to optical classification.
