Observation of the halo of the edge-on galaxy IC 5249

Optical photometry and H I synthesis observations of the southern edge-on Sc/Sd galaxy IC 5249 are reported. The rotation curve rises linearly out to a radius of 7 kpc and then appears to flatten out at similar to 100 km s(-1). The H I mass out to 24.5 kpc is similar to 6 x 10(9) M-., or 10% of the total mass out to this radius. The color, central surface brightness, scale height, and scale length of the disk of IC 5249 are R - I approximate to 0.4, mu = 20.6 +/- 0.1 R-C mag arcsec(-2), 600 +/- 40 pc, and 11 +/- 2 kpc, respectively. Additional light to that predicted by an exponential disk is present at distances greater than 3 kpc from the disk. At 5 kpc the surface brightness is 27-28 R-C mag arcsec(-2). The measured distribution of surface brightness is used to constrain the abundance of low-mass main-sequence stars in the halo of the galaxy. A halo made up entirely of main-sequence stars heavier than 0.13 M-. is excluded. We also find that less than 20% of the halo can be composed of main-sequence stars heavier than 0.30 M-.. Further observations are required to determine the rotation curve of IC 5249 to large radii and to determine precisely the abundance of low-mass main-sequence stars in the halo of the galaxy.