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Data Products

This page contains some of the most frequently requested data products from the ACS Virgo and Fornax Surveys, including:

  1. Globular cluster catalogs for all ACS Virgo Cluster Survey galaxies (Jordán et al. 2009; ACSVCS Paper XVI)

  2. Isophotal parameters and surface brightness profile data for ACS Virgo Cluster Survey galaxies (Ferrarese et al. 2006; ACSVCS Paper VI).

  3. Colour distributions and formation efficiency measurements for globular clusters in ACS Virgo Cluster Survey galaxies (Peng et al. 2006, 2008; ACSVCS Papers IX and XV).

  4. Fitted and derived parameters for compact stellar nuclei in ACS Virgo Cluster Survey galaxies (Côte et al. 2006; ACSVCS Paper VIII).

  5. Surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) measurements and distances for ACS Virgo and Fornax Cluster Survey galaxies (Blakeslee et al. 2009, ACSFCS Paper V; see also Mei et al. 2007, ACSVCS Paper XIII).
     

Interested researchers, however, are advised to consult the published articles where these data products (and many others) are available in electronic form.

I. Catalogs of Globular Cluster in Early-Type Galaxies

A series of images showing the principle steps involved in the generation of globular cluster catalogs for the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey (see Jordan et al. 2004, 2009, ACSVCS Papers II and XVI).

The properties of globular clusters (and UCDs) belonging to the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey galaxies are discussed primarily in Papers II, III, VII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIV and XV of the Virgo survey series; see the publications section of this website.

A detailed explanation of the methodology used in selecting globular cluster candidates and measuring their photometric and structural properties can be found in ACSVCS Paper XVI. Provided below are formatted ASCII versions of Tables 2, 3, 4 and 5 from that paper.

    Table 2: g-band Completeness Curves

    Table 3: z-band Completeness Curves

    Table 4: Photometric and Structural Catalog of Sources

    Table 5: Catalog of Expected Contaminants

II. Isophotal and Structural Analysis of Early-Type Galaxies   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The isophotal analysis for the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey galaxies is discussed in Paper VI (Ferrarese et al. 2006a). Provided below are formatted ASCII versions of Tables 1, 3 and 4. These tables conform to the AAS Journal's machine-readable table standards.

    Table 1: Global Morphological Properties of Program Galaxies

    Table 3: Best Fit parameters to the Luminosity Profile for Program Galaxies

    Table 4: Global Structural Parameters for Program Galaxies

In addition, by clicking on the links below, you may download tar files containing figures and data products that may be useful for studies of the ACSVCS galaxies.

1) ACSVCS_images.tar Click to download the ACS view of the galaxy (JPEG format). In each figure, the top panel shows the ACS/WFC/F475W full frame (on the left) and a zoom towards the center (on the right); the grayscale used for the top left panel (full frame) is kept the same for all galaxies; while the grayscale of the top right panel changes from galaxy to galaxy. The bottom left panel shows a contour map of the g-band frame, with levels drawn (for all galaxies) at 0.05,0.1,0.2,0.4,0.8,1.6,3.2,6.4,12.8,25.6 electrons/s/pixel (22.82 mag arcsec-2 to 16.04 mag arcsec-2). Finally, the bottom right panel shows a central section of the g-z color image, with red regions appearing as dark areas and blue regions as light. The linear scale is shown in each panel. All images have been background subtracted.

2) ACSVCS_profiles.tar Click to download a figure showing the isophotal parameters (PDF format). Isophotal parameters are plotted against the `geometric mean' radius rgeo = a(1-e)1/2, with a measured along the semi-major axis of the galaxy, and e equal to the local ellipticity. The panels show surface brightness (in magnitude arcsec-2) in both g (open squares) and z bands (filled squares), g-z color profile (both uncorrected for extinction), ellipticity, position angle (in degrees, measured from North to East) and parameters measuring deviations of the isophotes from pure ellipses. In all panels with the exception of the top right, open and closed symbols refer to g and z-band data respectively. Data are only plotted between 0.049 arcsec (equal to one WFC pixel) and the radius at which the galaxy counts fall below 10% of the sky; sky surface brightnesses are shown by the two short dashed horizontal lines (the fainter sky level is in the g-band). Crosses are used in plotting the color profile when the sum of the (background subtracted) counts in the two filters is lower than the sum of the background levels. Finally, a full horizontal bar in the top-left panel identifies a region where the analysis was performed on images corrected for dust obscuration, while two open horizontal bars identify regions where the fit was performed with fixed values of the ellipticity and major-axis position angle (the topmost bar is for the z-band data, the bottom bar for the g-band data). Higher order coefficients are not shown in these regions.

3) ACSVCS_models.tar to download an ASCII file tabulating the intrinsic (prior to PSF convolution) Sersic or core-Sersic model best fitting the surface brightness profile. The models do not include a nuclear component, when present.

III. Globular Cluster Colour Distributions and Formation Efficiency Measurements

 

The color distributions of globular clusters in ACS Virgo Cluster Survey galaxies are discussed in Paper IX of that series (Peng et al. 2006a). Provided below are formatted ASCII versions of Tables 1, 3 and 4 from that paper.

Table 2: Color Distributions for ACSVCS Galaxies

The formation efficiencies of globular clusters in ACS Virgo Cluster Survey galaxies are discussed in ACSVCS Paper XV (Peng et al. 2008). Provided below are formatted ASCII versions of Tables 1, 3 and 4 from that paper.

Table 1: Global Properties of ACSVCS Galaxies

 

IV. Data for Compact Stellar Nuclei in ACSVCS Galaxies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The properties of the nuclear components in ACS Virgo Cluster Survey galaxies (defined as the “excess” central light relative to the inward extrapolation of the global Sersic model) are discussed extensively in Côté et al. (2006; ACSVCS Paper VIII). Interested readers should consult that paper (and also Côté et al. 2007, ACSFCS II and Ferrarese et al. 2006, ACSVCS Paper VI) for more details.

Table 1: Basic Data for Nuclei of Program Galaxies

 

 

The analysis of nuclei in ACSFCS program galaxies carried out by Turner et al. (2013) relied on Sersic model fits to the nuclei, rather than King models used in Paper VIII. For consistency with the ACSFCS results, the following table gives Sersic model-based parameters for the ACSVCS nuclei. For more detailes, see Turner et al. (2013).

Table 2: Basic Data for Nuclei of Program Galaxies Using Sersic Models

 

 

V. Surface Brightness Fluctuation (SBF) Measurements for ACSVCS and ACSFCS Galaxies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The measurement of surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) distances was a primary goal of the ACS Virgo and Fornax Cluster Surveys. The results for Virgo were presented in three publications (Mei et al. 2005ab, 2007; ACSVCS Papers IV, V and XIII), and final results for the two surveys (including a recalibration of the fluctuation magnitude-color relation)  are given in Blakeslee et al. (2009, ACSFCS V). Below are the final SBF distance catalogs for the ACSFCS and ACSVCS samples.

Table 1: SBF Data for ACSFCS Galaxies

Table 2: SBF Data for ACSVCS Galaxies (Blakeslee et al. 2009 recalibration)

(a) Magnified view of the F475W image of VCC 2048 (IC 3773). This is the brightest “dwarf” galaxy in our sample according to the morphological classifications of Binggeli et al. (1985). It is classified as nonnucleated in the Virgo Cluster Catalog, with type d:S0(9). (b–d) Same image, after binning 4 pixels × 4 pixels and convolving with Gaussians of FWHM = 0.5˝, 0.9˝, and 1.4˝, respectively. Figure from Cote et al. (2006, ACSVCS Paper VIII).

A series of images showing the principle steps involved in the generation of globular cluster catalogs for the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey (see Jordan et al. 2004, 2009, ACSVCS Papers II and XVI).

Velocity-distance relation for galaxies from the ACSVCS.  The dotted lines shows the undisturbed Hubble Flow in the direction of Virgo for an assumed Hubble Constant of H0 = 73 km s-1 Mpc -1. The predicted distance-velocity relation for a line of sight passing through the cluster, based on the model of Tonry et al. (2000) for large-scale flows in the local universe, is shown by the solid (mean velocity) and dashed curves (±1  limits). Early-type galaxies from the SBF survey of Tonry et al. (2001), which are located with 20° of M87, and which do not appear in the ACSVCS, are plotted as open squares. See Mei et al. (2007, ACSVCS Paper XIII for details).

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