The galaxy cluster Abell 426 (Perseus). A catalogue of 660 galaxy positions, isophotal magnitudes and morphological types

We present a homogeneous catalogue of galaxies in the field of the nearby galaxy cluster A 426 (Perseus) based on a survey of digitised Schmidt plates taken with the Tautenburg 2 m telescope in the B band. Accurate positions, morphological types, B₂₅ isophotal magnitudes, angular radii and position angles are given for 660 galaxies within a field of about 10 square-degrees, centred on alpha = 3() h 21() min, delta = 41degr 33' (J2000). When available, the radial velocity and the most common name taken from NED or PGC are included. The catalogue comprises galaxies brighter than B₂₅~19.5. The estimated limit of completeness is B₂₅~18. Two thirds of the galaxies are published for the first time. The galaxy positions are measured with a mean accuracy of 0farcs5 , the photometric accuracy is of the order of 0.1 to 0.2 mag depending on image crowding and galaxy shape. Morphological properties were evaluated from the visual inspections of both deep images obtained from the digital co-addition of a large number of plates and higher-resolution images from single plates taken under good seeing conditions. The superimposed images unveil faint structures down to mu_B ~ 27 mag arcsec(-2) . The catalogue is applied to a study of statistical properties of the galaxies in A 426: projected distribution of morphological types, segregation of morphological types, position of the cluster centre, distribution of galaxy position angles, type-dependent luminosity functions, and total B-luminosity of the the cluster. In agreement with previous studies, we find a relative spiral-deficiency in the central region (r <~ 30'). The percentage of identified S+Irr increases, however, increases from 30% in the centre to more than 50% in the outer parts. The projected distributions of early- and late-type galaxies are not co-centred. The total luminosity of all supposed member galaxies in the surveyed area is estimated to (6.5+/-0.9)\ 10(12) x h₅₀(-2) blue solar luminosities. We do not analyse in detail possible substructures in the projected distribution of galaxies. However, we found a pronounced clump of galaxies at alpha (J2000.0) = 3() h20fm4 , delta (J2000.0) = 43degr4 ', which is shown to be a background cluster at z~ 0.050. The catalogue is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html } \fnmsep \thanks{ Based on observations made with the 2\,m telescope of the Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Germany, and with the 2.2\,m telescope of the German-Spanish Astronomical Centre, Calar Alto, Spain.