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[91.09] First Results from a Large Survey for Very Low Surface Brightness Galaxies

J. J. Marshall, S. S. McGaugh (U. Maryland), G. Aldering (LBL)

We will present some of the first results from a survey designed to detect very low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies. The main advantages of this survey are that it is both wide (~ 100 deg² observed) and deep, with a limiting surface brightness of \mu_\ell(R) \approx 27 mag arcsec^-2 (roughly equivalent to \mu_\ell(B) \approx 28). These factors will allow us to detect many galaxies that have gone undiscovered to date and more specifically to help quantify the population of galaxies with 24 < \mu₀(B) < 26 mag arcsec^-2 which has not been covered in depth by other surveys. The collection, reduction, calibration, and analysis of the data will be discussed briefly and some of the results collected so far will be presented. Initial test results indicate that we are indeed able to detect very LSB galaxies down to central surface brightnesses of \mu₀(R) \approx 26 mag arcsec^-2 at 10 \sigma. Based on these initial tests, we expect to detect many hundreds of galaxies with \mu₀(R) > 24 mag arcsec^-2 over the entire surveyed area. This will vastly increase the number of very LSB galaxies that have been detected and cataloged.

This work has been supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants AST9901663 and AST0206078.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: marshall@astro.umd.edu

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#5
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.