J/A+A/581/A10 VEGAS: A VST Early-type GAlaxy Survey (Capaccioli+, 2015)
VEGAS: A VST Early-type GAlaxy Survey.
I. Presentation, wide-field surface photometry, and substructures in NGC 4472.
Capaccioli M., Spavone M., Grado A., Iodice E., Limatola L.,
Napolitano N.R., Cantiello M., Paolillo M., Romanowsky A.J., Forbes D.A.,
Puzia T.H., Raimondo G., Schipani P.
<Astron. Astrophys., 581, A10-10 (2015)>
=2015A&A...581A..10C 2015A&A...581A..10C (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: Surveys ; Galaxy catalogs ; Photometry ; Morphology ;
Velocity dispersion
Keywords: techniques: image processing -
galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cD - gravitation -
galaxies: fundamental parameters - galaxies: formation
Abstract:
We present the VST Early-type GAlaxy Survey (VEGAS), which is designed
to obtain deep multiband photometry in g, r, i, of about one hundred
nearby galaxies down to 27.3, 26.8, and 26mag/arcsec2 respectively,
using the ESO facility VST/OmegaCAM. The goals of the survey are 1) to
map the light distribution up to ten effective radii, re; 2) to
trace color gradients and surface brightness fluctuation gradients out
to a few re for stellar population characterization; and 3) to
obtain a full census of the satellite systems (globular clusters and
dwarf galaxies) out to 20% of the galaxy virial radius. The external
regions of galaxies retain signatures of the formation and evolution
mechanisms that shaped them, and the study of nearby objects enables a
detailed analysis of their morphology and interaction features. To
clarify the complex variety of formation mechanisms of early-type
galaxies (ETGs), wide and deep photometry is the primary observational
step, which at the moment has been pursued with only a few dedicated
programs. The VEGAS survey has been designated to provide these data
for a volume-limited sample with exceptional image quality. In this
commissioning photometric paper we illustrate the capabilities of the
survey using g- and i-band VST/OmegaCAM images of the nearby galaxy
NGC 4472 and of smaller ETGs in the surrounding field. Our surface
brightness profiles reach rather faint levels and agree excellently
well with previous literature. Genuine new results concern the
detection of an intracluster light tail in NGC 4472 and of various
substructures at increasing scales. We have also produced extended
(g-i) color profiles. The VST/OmegaCAM data that we acquire in the
context of the VEGAS survey provide a detailed view of substructures
in the optical emission from extended galaxies, which can be as faint
as a hundred times below the sky level.
Description:
The VST Elliptical GAlaxies Survey (VEGAS) is a deep multiband (g,r,i)
imaging survey of early-type galaxies in the southern hemisphere
carried out with VST at the ESO Cerro Paranal Observatory (Chile). The
large field of view (FOV) of the OmegaCAM mounted on VST (one square
degree matched by pixels 0.21-arcsec wide), together with its high
efficiency and spatial resolution (typically better than 1-arcsec;
Kuijken, 2011Msngr.146....8K 2011Msngr.146....8K) allows us to map with a reasonable
integration time the surface brightness of a galaxy out to isophotes
encircling about 95% of the total light. Observations started in
October 2011 (ESO Period 88), and since then, the survey has acquired
exposures for about 20 bright galaxies (and for a wealth of companion
objects in the field), for a totality of ∼80h (up to Period 93).
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
tablec1.dat 106 210 The VEGAS sample
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: tablec1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 10 A10 --- Name Galaxy name
12- 21 F10.7 deg RAdeg Right ascension (J2000)
23- 33 F11.7 deg DEdeg Declination (J2000)
35- 38 A4 --- MType Morphological type
40- 43 F4.1 --- T-type Morphological type code
45- 50 F6.2 deg PA ?=-9.99 Position angle
52- 57 F6.3 mag/arcsec+2 SuBr ?=-9.999 Mean effective surface brightness
60- 65 F6.3 mag Bmag Total B magnitude
67- 71 F5.3 mag B-V ?=- Total B-V colour index
73- 78 F6.2 km/s sigma ?=- Central velocity dispersion
80- 85 F6.1 km/s HRV Mean heliocentric radial velocity (cz)
87- 91 F5.3 mag AB Galactic extinction in B-band
93- 98 F6.3 mag Bmagc Total B-magnitude corrected for extinction
100-106 F7.3 mag BMAG Absolute B-band magnitude
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History:
From electronic version of the journal
(End) Patricia Vannier [CDS] 04-Nov-2015