The APM galaxy survey - I. APM measurements and star-galaxy separation.
Abstract
We have constructed a survey of 20 million images brighter than b_j_ = 22 in an area of 4300 square degrees covering the southern galactic cap. The survey is based on 155 contiguous, high galactic latitude UKSTU J survey plates which have been digitized using the SERC Automatic Plate Measuring facility in Cambridge. This paper describes the image analysis and parameterization we have used. The accuracy of the resulting measurements is assessed by comparing repeat scans of fields comparing original plates to copy plates and comparing the areas of overlap between neighbouring fields. The image surface brightness profiles are used to distinguish galaxies from stars and merged images. The completeness of the galaxy sample and the contamination from stellar images is estimated from extensive visual checks of the plates.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- April 1990
- Bibcode:
- 1990MNRAS.243..692M
- Keywords:
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- Astronomical Photometry;
- Galactic Mass;
- Image Analysis;
- Sky Surveys (Astronomy);
- Stellar Structure;
- Galactic Clusters;
- Galactic Evolution;
- Hubble Constant;
- Photographic Plates;
- Spatial Distribution;
- Astrophysics