1989Aj 98. .367F the Astronomical Journal
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.367F THE ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL VOLUME 98, NUMBER 2 AUGUST 1989 98. POPULATION STUDIES IN GROUPS AND CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES. II. A CATALOG OF GALAXIES IN THE CENTRAL 3.5° OF THE FORNAX CLUSTER Henry C. Ferguson 1989AJ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Center for Astrophysical Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 Received 12 January 1989; revised 23 February 1989 ABSTRACT This paper presents a catalog of 2678 galaxies within an area of ~40°sq. centered on the Fornax Cluster at a~3h35m and — 35.7°. The data have been obtained from visual inspection of 26 deep large-scale (10.9" mm-1) plates taken with the du Pont 2.5 m reflector at the Las Campanas Observa- tory, and from digital photometry of an ESO/SRC blue survey plate covering roughly the same area of the sky. The catalog is essentially diameter limited, with a limiting diameter of 17" at an isophote of BT — 26.5. Within this survey region, the catalog includes 340 likely cluster members and 2338 likely background galaxies. For cluster members, this listing should be complete to RT —18 (corresponding to M5t —13.0, assuming a distance modulus of m — AT = 31.9) and contains likely members down to BT — 20. Cluster membership is for the most part based on galaxy morphology. By virtue of their low surface brightness, dwarf galaxies in the cluster can be distinguished with a high degree of certainty from background galaxies. Radial velocities are included for 89 galaxies in the survey, providing a reliable indicator of membership in these cases. As additional support for our rejection of background galaxies, we model the spatial distribution of various types of galaxies as the sum of a King model cluster component superimposed on a uniform background. Using maximum-likelihood fits to these spatial distributions, we find a core radius of 0.7° for a King model fit to the cluster, and show that there are few, if any, cluster members contained in the sample of background galaxies. I. INTRODUCTION influences, operating either at the time of galaxy formation or later. Mechanisms that have been proposed to explain the Until recently, investigations of galaxy populations out- observed type segregation depend in different ways on gal- side the Local Group have been strongly biased in favor of axy mass and cluster properties. Studies of the populations luminous, massive galaxies. While this bias has been recog- of both bright and faint galaxies in a wide variety of environ- nized for many years, finding and cataloging the less-lumi- ments are therefore necessary to identify the physical pro- nous galaxies has only recently become both technically fea- cesses that may be involved. sible and scientifically interesting. The technical difficulty in searching for dwarf galaxies in Dwarf galaxies, by number, are by far the dominant galac- nearby clusters stems from the small sizes and low surface tic constituent of the universe. While the “characteristic” brightnesses of the galaxies and the large angular extent of luminosity of a galaxy (L *) at the break of the luminosity 11 the clusters. Searches for such galaxies over large areas of function is —10 L0, an average galaxy shines with, at sky using CCDs are currently impractical because of the 8 most, a feeble 10 L0. From a cosmological viewpoint, in- small format of CCD detectors. Dwarf galaxies in the For- terest in these average galaxies stems from the speculation nax and Virgo clusters are readily apparent on deep 48" that bright galaxies are much more strongly clustered than Schmidt plates, such as those taken for the Palomar and the underlying mass distribution in the universe (Kaiser ESO/SRC sky surveys; however, the small scale 1985; Bardeen 1985; Davis a/. 1985), making it possible to (67" mm-1) makes morphological classification difficult. have fl0 = 1 in spite of the insufficient mass measured in Because cluster membership for the faint galaxies is primar- clusters of galaxies. If the dwarf galaxies form at smaller ily determined on the basis of morphology, additional reso- peaks in the initial fluctuation spectrum, then it is possible lution is crucial for weeding out background contaminants. that they will more directly trace the mass distribution in the By virtue of its unique optical design (Bowen and universe. Testing this possibility requires a census of dwarf Vaughan 1973), the du Pont 2.5 m telescope on Las Cam- galaxies in both high- and low-density regions of the local panas combines high spatial resolution (10.9" mm -1 ) with universe. a large field of view (1.5°X 1.5°). Given this field of view, Even if low-luminosity galaxies turn out not to be useful as nearby clusters can be surveyed to faint limiting magnitudes indicators of the large-scale distribution of matter in the uni- with reasonable integration times and with a reasonable verse, they are useful as test particles for studying the distri- number of exposures. Based on plates taken with the du Pont bution of mass within clusters of galaxies. By virtue of sheer telescope, the recently completed Virgo Cluster Survey numbers, dwarf galaxies offer improved statistics on the ra- (Binggeli, Sandage, and Tammann 1985, hereafter referred dial distribution of mass and on the extent of subclustering to as BST85 ) has done much to remedy the pre-existing bias within clusters. Further information on the dynamical his- toward luminous, massive galaxies. Approximately 80% of tory of clusters may be obtained by studying the segregation the observed galaxies in the Virgo survey are classified as of galaxies by mass and by type. Mass segregation is expected dwarfs. The observed properties of these galaxies and of the on the basis of equipartition of energy and should be appar- Virgo Cluster itself were set out in a series of seven papers ent if a cluster is dynamically relaxed and most of the galax- from 1984 to 1987 in The Astronomical Journal, by various ies are not the products of collisions (either mergers or frag- permutations and combinations of Binggeli, Sandage, Tam- ments). Type segregation is observed among luminous mann, and Tarenghi. galaxies in clusters, and is no doubt due to environmental While the Virgo Cluster Survey has contributed greatly to 367 Astron. J. 98 (2), August 1989 0004-6256/89/020367-52$00.90 © 1989 Am. Astron. Soc. 367 © American Astronomical Society • Provided by the NASA Astrophysics Data System .367F 368 HENRY C. FERGUSON: THE FORNAX CLUSTER 368 98. our knowledge of the luminosity function of galaxies, the ship for the faint galaxies is for the most part determined by intrinsic properties of dwarf galaxies, and the dynamical their appearance on large-scale plates. The full catalog con- state of the Virgo Cluster, one must be cautious in extrapo- tains 131 additional likely dwarf cluster members that were lating these results from one cluster to the universe at large. not listed by Caldwell (1987), either because they were 1989AJ The next obvious step is to see whether the galaxy luminosity missed, because they were below the magnitude limit of his function and the properties of dwarf galaxies vary from clus- survey, or because they were judged to be in the background. ter to cluster or between clusters and the field. The purpose This apparent dearth of dwarfs led Caldwell to conclude that of this series of papers is to begin such an investigation on there were far fewer dwarfs per giant in Fornax than in Vir- additional nearby clusters and groups of galaxies, based on go. Based on the catalog presented here, we also found a data directly comparable to the Virgo Cluster data. A com- difference in the giant-to-dwarf ratio, but with the small plementary investigation for the field (based on Schmidt number of galaxies in Fornax the difference was not statisti- plates) is being undertaken by Binggeli, Tarenghi, and San- cally compelling (see Paper I). dage ( 1989). Davies etal ( 1988 ) concluded from their APM survey of This paper presents a catalog of galaxies in the Fornax Fornax that the well-known surface-brightness-magnitude Cluster. This cluster is notable as a small but dense concen- relation fordwarf galaxies (Binggeli, Sandage, and Tarenghi tration of early-type galaxies, dominated near the center by 1984; Kormendy 1985; Caldwell 1987) was largely an arti- NGC 1399, a luminous EO with an extended halo and a large fact of selection effects. This conclusion calls into question collection of globular clusters, and near the outskirts by the principal observational verification of the theory of NGC 1316, a bright and dusty shell galaxy associated with dwarf galaxy formation proposed by Dekel and Silk ( 1986). the radio source Fornax A. The concentration of galaxies in If true, it also introduces into Fornax a new class of dwarf Fornax has presumably been known since Sir John Her- galaxies, with absolute magnitudes MB in the range — 14.5 schePs visit to Southern Africa in 1835. The group was noted to — 13 and relatively high central surface brightnesses by Shapley (1943), and by de Vaucouleurs (1956), who ranging from 23.5 to 22.5 B arcsec-2, galaxies that are ap- gave it the designation G53 in his catalog of nearby groups parently exceedingly rare in the local neighborhood. With (de Vaucouleurs 1974). Extensive studies of the brighter classifications of the galaxies based on the higher-resolution members of the cluster have been carried out over the last plate material used for the present survey, we argued in Pa- few decades. Hodge (1978) published photographic surface per I that Davies et al were led to their conclusion by the photometry for 13 of the bright galaxies, and photoelectric presence in their sample of background galaxies that were aperture photometry has been obtained by Sandage (1975) difficult to distinguish from cluster dwarfs on the Schmidt and Griersmith ( 1982), among others.