[Previous] | [Session 76] | [Next]
W. R. Brown, M. J. Geller, D. G. Fabricant (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
The galaxy luminosity function figures prominently in the study of galaxy evolution, but multiple passband photometry has not been available for most complete, large galaxy surveys. We have determined the local V and R band luminosity functions using redshifts from the Century Survey and CCD photometry of 1200 galaxies to R = 16.35, extending over 65 sq. degrees. The original Century Survey was based on photographic photometry, and contained 1762 galaxies to R = 16.13 over 100 sq. degrees.
Our new photometry has typical errors ±.04 mag, 5-6 times more precise than the original Century Survey. V-R colors allow us to calculate accurate k corrections for each galaxy. We find 29 low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies, a 50% increase from the original Century Survey. These LSB galaxies have central surface brightness fainter than 22 mag/square arcsec in B. Our density of 0.45 LSB/sq. deg is lower than the 1.1 LSB/sq. deg found by O'Neil and Bothun to the same effective limiting magnitude. However, O'Neil and Bothun search for LSB galaxies around known galaxies in the Great Wall region, and, if LSB and normal galaxies have the same correlation function, their density should exceed ours by a factor of 2.25 as it does. Our LSB galaxy population also matches the range of surface brightness and scale length values observed by O'Neil and Bothun.
This work was supported by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: wbrown@cfa.harvard.edu