The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey.: I.: Introduction to the Survey 1

被引:267
作者
Côté, P
Blakeslee, JP
Ferrarese, L
Jordán, A
Mei, S
Merritt, D
Milosavljevic, M
Peng, EW
Tonry, JL
West, MJ
机构
[1] Rutgers State Univ, Dept Phys & Astron, Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA
[2] Johns Hopkins Univ, Dept Phys & Astron, Baltimore, MD 21218 USA
[3] Univ Paris 11, Inst Astrophys Spatiale, F-91405 Orsay, France
[4] Rochester Inst Technol, Dept Phys, Rochester, NY 14623 USA
[5] CALTECH, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA
[6] Univ Hawaii, Inst Astron, Honolulu, HI 96822 USA
[7] Univ Hawaii, Dept Phys & Astron, Hilo, HI 96720 USA
关键词
galaxies : clusters : individual (Virgo); galaxies : distances and redshifts; galaxies : elliptical and lenticular; cD; galaxies : ISM; galaxies : nuclei; galaxies : star clusters;
D O I
10.1086/421490
中图分类号
P1 [天文学];
学科分类号
0704 ;
摘要
The Virgo Cluster is the dominant mass concentration in the Local Supercluster and the largest collection of elliptical and lenticular galaxies in the nearby universe. In this paper, we present an introduction to the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey: a program to image, in the F475W and F850LP bandpasses ( approximate to Sloan g and z), 100 early-type galaxies in the Virgo Cluster using the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope. We describe the selection of the program galaxies and their ensemble properties, the choice of filters, the field placement and orientation, the limiting magnitudes of the survey, coordinated parallel observations of 100 "intergalactic'' fields with WFPC2, and supporting ground-based spectroscopic observations of the program galaxies. In terms of depth, spatial resolution, sample size, and homogeneity, this represents the most comprehensive imaging survey to date of early-type galaxies in a cluster environment. We briefly describe the main scientific goals of the survey, which include the measurement of luminosities, metallicities, ages, and structural parameters for the many thousands of globular clusters associated with these galaxies, a high-resolution isophotal analysis of galaxies spanning a factor of similar to 450 in luminosity and sharing a common environment, the measurement of accurate distances for the full sample of galaxies using the method of surface brightness fluctuations, and a determination of the three-dimensional structure of Virgo itself.
引用
收藏
页码:223 / 242
页数:20
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