AAS 205th Meeting, 9-13 January 2005
Session 92 Ellipticals and Early Types
Poster, Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 9:20am-6:30pm, Exhibit Hall

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[92.14] An analytical description of the extended halos of cD galaxies

M.S. Seigar (UC Irvine), A.W. Graham (Mount Stromlo Observatory)

We have observed 6 nearby cD galaxies to a depth of 26.5 R-mag/arcsec2 with the Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope (JKT) on La Palma. Surprisingly little is known about the structure of the extended, low surface brightness halos around such objects.

We plan to determine the most appropriate analytical model to describe cD galaxy halos, whether this be an exponential profile, a Sersic model, or some other function. We additionally intend to measure the fraction of light contained within the halo, relative to the central galaxy. To date, this has typically been done by simply assigning to the halo, any and all excess flux relative to an inner r(1/4) model.

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© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.