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Detailed Description of VII/155 :
Third Reference Cat. of Bright Galaxies (RC3) (de Vaucouleurs+ 1991)
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Note : this is the description file of the original catalog.
This HTML page corresponds well to the original description, but some minor
changes in the format may have been introduced in the FITS output
files in order to allow for arithmetic operations on quantities
such as coordinates and times. h:m:s and d:m:s units are normally
converted into degrees, and YYYY-MM-DD into julian days.
Similarly, some slight changes may have been introduced in the
units; the value given in the HTML files supersedes the value indicated in the ReadMe
file for this catalogue.
VII/155 Third Reference Cat. of Bright Galaxies (RC3) (de Vaucouleurs+ 1991)
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Third Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies (RC3)
de Vaucouleurs G., de Vaucouleurs A., Corwin H.G., Buta R.J.,
Paturel G., Fouque P.
<Springer-Verlag: New York, (1991)>
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ADC_Keywords: Galaxy catalogs
Description:
The University of Texas has revised its third edition of its
catalogue of bright galaxies. This not only contains many more
entries than the second edition (23,022) but substantially more
information for each entry.
Introduction:
The original Harvard Survey of the External Galaxies brighter
than the 13th magnitude, by H. Shapley and A. Ames (1932),
included just 1,249 objects (of which five were not galaxies),
with estimated photographic magnitudes and diameters from
heterogeneous sources.
The first Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies (RC1) (G. and
A. de Vaucouleurs 1964), prepared between 1949 and 1963, included
2,599 objects (six are not galaxies), over twice the number in
the original Shapley-Ames catalogue. In addition to diameters,
magnitudes, colors, and redshifts in relatively homogeneous
systems, it gave revised classifications and detailed literature
references from 1913 to 1963. (NGC 8 is a double star; NGC 4361
is a planetary nebula; NGC 5396 is nonexistent, probably = NGC
5375; IC 1308 is a H II region in NGC 6822; IC 3917 is
nonexistent, probably a plate defect (M. Wolf 1905); and A2144 =
Palomar 12 is a globular cluster.)
The Second Reference Catalogue (RC2) (G. and A. de Vaucouleurs,
and H. G. Corwin 1976), prepared between 1971 and 1975, included
4,364 objects (two are not galaxies), for which it gave improved
isophotal diameters and axis ratios in the D25 system, newly
determined total magnitudes and colors in the UBV system,
continuum and 21-cm radio magnitudes, HI index, and redshifts, as
well as references to published photographs and a bibliography
for the years 1964 to 1975. Both the First and Second Reference
Catalogues are limited to galaxies with useful literature
references and are incomplete beyond the Shapley-Ames limit.
(A0733+02 = DDO 45 is a planetary nebula; A2143-21 = Palomar 12
is a globular cluster.)
The present, much enlarged Third Reference Catalogue of Bright
Galaxies (RC3) attempts to be reasonably complete for galaxies
having apparent diameters larger than 1 arcmin at the D25
isophotal level and total B-band magnitudes BT brighter than
about 15.5, with a redshift not in excess of 15,000 km/s. Objects
of special interest, such as compact galaxies smaller than 1
arcmin or fainter than magnitude 15.5, and those already in RC2,
are also included. The number of RC3 objects meeting these
conditions is 11,897. Additional objects meeting only the
diameter or the magnitude condition, and objects of interest
smaller than 1.00, fainter than 15.5, or with redshifts > 15,000
km/s, bring the total to 23,022. (PGC 41636 and P65386 have been
deleted since the catalogue was printed. The first is a globular
cluster, Palomar 15, and the second is a duplicate entry for NGC
6967.) These were extracted from the database of 73,197 galaxies
maintained by G. Paturel at Lyons Observatory (Paturel et al.
1989a,b). Data published prior to mid-1990 are included in the
main RC3 table and appendices.
As might be expected in a compilation of this size, a number of
errors have been detected since this catalog was archived. These
have been corrected by H. G. Corwin who submitted the current,
corrected version. Any problems relating to the catalogue itself
should be addressed to him:
Dr. Harold G. Corwin, Jr.
IPAC, M/S 100-22
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91125
Details of the reduction procedures, and Notes, References, and
Appendices are in Volume 1 of the printed version of RC3,
available from Springer-Verlag New York. Volumes 2 and 3
(included in this distribution) are also be available from
Springer-Verlag should you wish to have a printed and bound
version of the complete catalogue. The user of this catalogue is
referred to this source volume for notes, references to data on
individual galaxies, and the important information contained in
the appendices as well as a discussion of how the entries were
derived.
We ask that you acknowledge RC3 and its authors in any
publication that results from your use of the Catalogue. You may
also freely distribute unaltered electromagnetic copies of RC3 to
friends and colleagues as long as a copy of this documentation -
including this notice - accompanies the Catalogue. The printed
version of RC3 is protected by copyright, and may not be
reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the
copyright holder, Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
File Summary:
FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
× 80 . This file
× ReadMe 80 . This file
× rc3 363 23011 The revised RC3 catalog
× mtypes.tex 80 271 Explanations of Morphological Types
See also:
J/AJ/108/2128 : RC3 corrections and additions (Corwin+ 1994)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: rc3
Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
1- 2 I2 h RAh *Right Ascension B2000 (hours)
3- 4 I2 min RAm *Right Ascension B2000 (minutes)
5- 8 F4.1 s RAs *Right Ascension B2000 (sec. or min.)
10 A1 --- DE- [-+] Sign of declination
11- 12 I2 deg DEd *Declination B2000 (degrees)
13- 14 I2 arcmin DEm *Declination B2000 (minutes)
15- 16 I2 arcsec DEs *? Declination B2000 (seconds)
18- 19 I2 h RA1950h Right Ascension 1950 (hours)
20- 21 I2 min RA1950m Right Ascension 1950 (minutes)
22- 25 F4.1 s RA1950s *Right Ascension 1950 (sec. or min.)
27 A1 --- DE1950- [-+] Sign of declination 1950
28- 29 I2 deg DE1950d Declination 1950 (degrees)
30- 31 I2 arcmin DE1950m Declination 1950 (minutes)
32- 33 I2 arcsec DE1950s *? Declination 1950 (seconds)
35- 40 F6.2 deg GLON *Galactic longitude
42- 47 F6.2 deg GLAT *Galactic latitude
49- 54 F6.2 deg SGLON Supergalactic longitude on RC2 sys.
56- 61 F6.2 deg SGLAT Supergalactic latitude on RC2 sys.
63- 74 A12 --- name *Name
75- 89 A15 --- altname *Alternate name
91-104 A14 --- desig Other designation
106-116 A11 --- PGC *PGC number
118-124 A7 --- type *Type
126-130 A5 --- typesr *Source of revised type
132-135 F4.1 --- T *? T (Hubble stage)
137-139 F3.1 --- e_T ? Mean error of T
141-144 F4.1 --- lumcl ? Luminosity class (file "mtypes.tex")
146-148 F3.1 --- e_lumcl ? Mean error on luminosity class
150 I1 --- o_lumcl ? Num. of luminosity class estimates
152-155 F4.2 [0.1arcmin] D25 *? Log D25
156 A1 --- u_D25 [?]? indicates Log D25 very uncer.
158-160 F3.2 [0.1arcmin] e_D25 *? Mean error on log D25
162-165 F4.2 --- R25 *? Log R25 (isophotal diameter ratio)
166 A1 --- u_R25 [?]? indicates Log R25 very uncertain
168-170 F3.2 --- e_R25 *? Mean error on log R25
172-175 F4.2 [0.1arcmin] Do *? Log Do
177-180 F4.2 [0.1arcmin] Ae *? Log Ae (effective aperture)
182-184 F3.2 [0.1arcmin] e_Ae ? Mean error on log Ae
186-188 I3 deg PA *? Position angle of the major axis
190-194 F5.2 mag BT *? BT (total B magnitude)
195 A1 --- BT_code *? BT code
197-199 F3.2 mag e_BT ? Mean error on BT
201-205 F5.2 mag Bmag *? mB (photographic magnitude)
207-209 F3.2 mag e_Bmag *? Mean error on Bmag
211-215 F5.2 mag BoT *? BoT
217-221 F5.2 mag/arcmin2 m'25 *? m'25
223-226 F4.2 mag/arcmin2 e_m'25 ? Mean error m'25
228-232 F5.2 mag/arcmin2 m'e *? m'e
234-236 F3.2 mag/arcmin2 e_m'e ? Mean error m'e
238-242 F5.2 mag mFIR *? mFIR
244-248 F5.2 mag m21 *? m21
250-251 F2.1 mag e_m21 ? Mean error on m21
253-256 F4.2 mag B-VT *? (B-V)T (total (B-V))
258-260 F3.2 mag e_B-VT ? Mean error on (B-V)T
262-265 F4.2 mag B-Ve *? (B-V)e (mean B-V within Ae)
267-269 F3.2 mag e_B-Ve ? Mean error on (B-V)e
271-274 F4.2 mag B-VoT *? (B-V)oT
276-280 F5.2 mag U-BT *? (U-B)T (total (U-B))
282-284 F3.2 mag e_U-BT ? Mean error on (U-B)T
286-289 F4.2 mag U-Be *? (U-B)e
291-293 F3.2 mag e_U-Be ? Mean error on (U-B)e
295-298 F4.2 mag U-BoT *? (U-B)To
300-304 F5.2 mag HI *? HI (neutral hydrogen index)
306-309 F4.2 mag Ai *? Ai (internal B extinction)
311-313 F3.2 mag A21 *? A21 (HI self absorption)
315-318 F4.2 mag Ag *? Ag (galactic extinction in B)
320-322 I3 km/s W20 *? W20
324-325 I2 km/s e_W20 ? Mean error on W20
327-329 I3 km/s W50 *? W50
331-332 I2 km/s e_W50 ? Mean error of W50
334-338 I5 km/s V21 *? V21 (heliocentric radial velocity)
340-341 I2 km/s e_V21 ? Mean error on V21
343-347 I5 km/s cz *? Vopt= cz
349-351 I3 km/s e_cz ? Mean error on Vopt
353-357 I5 km/s VGSR *? VGSR
359-363 I5 km/s V3K *? V3K
Note on RAh, RAm, RAs, DEd, DEm, DEs, RA1950s and DE1950s:
The right ascensions and declinations for the equinox 2000.0, are
precessed from the 1950.0 position using the 1976 IAU constants
(see, e.g., the Supplement to The Astronomical Almanac for 1984).
These are given to 0.1 second of time and 1 arcsec when available,
and to 0.1 minute of time and 1 arcmin otherwise (Section 3.1.a,
page 11).
The right ascensions originally given with an accuracy of 0.1min
have been converted to seconds; such converted RAs and RAs1950
values have no decimal, and the corresponding DEs and DEs1950
are blank.
Note on GLON and GLAT:
The galactic coordinates given to 0.01, are calculated following
the IAU 1958 prescription (Blaauw et al. 1960) with the North
Galactic Pole at alpha = 12h49m , delta = +27 24 (1950), and the
origin at alpha = 17h 42.4m, delta = -28 55 (1950).
Note on name:
Names (e.g., LMC, SMC) or NGC and IC designations.
Note on altname:
UGC (Nilson 1973), ESO (Lauberts 1982), MCG (Vorontsov-Velyaminov
et al. 1962-1974), UGCA (Nilson 1974), and CGCG (Zwicky et al.
1961-1968) designations, given in that order of preference. MCG
designations not listed here are given in UGC and ESO.
Note on PGC:
PGC (Paturel et al. 1989a,b) designation. For cross identifications
of various catalogues with the PGC, see Appendix 10, page 561.
Note on type:
Mean revised morphological type in the RC2 system, coded as in RC2
(Section 3.3.a, page 13; see also file "mtypes.tex").
Note on typesr:
"V" indicates a classification by de Vaucouleurs; "4" indicates a
ring galaxy classified by Buta on 4-meter plates.
Note on T:
Mean numerical index of stage along the Hubble sequence in RC2
system (coded as explained in Section 3.3.c, page 16;
see also file "mtypes.tex").
Note on D25:
Mean decimal logarithm of the apparent major isophotal diameter
measured at or reduced to surface brightness level muB = 25.0 B/mag2,
as explained in Section 3.4.a, page 21. The unit of D is 0.1
arcmin to avoid negative entries.
Note on e_D25:
A "?" indicates a large, uncertain error.
Note on R25:
Mean decimal logarithm of the ratio of the major isophotal
diameter, D25, to the minor isophotal diameter, D25, measured at or
reduced to the surface brightness level muB = 25.0 B/mag2, and its
mean error as explained in Section 3.4.b, page 26.
Note on e_R25:
A "?" indicates a large, uncertain error.
Note on Ae:
Decimal logarithm of the apparent diameter (in 0.1 arcmin) of the
"effective aperture," the circle centered on the nucleus within
which one-half of the total B-band flux is emitted, derived as
explained in Section 3.4.c, page 28.
Note on Do:
Decimal logarithm of the isophotal major diameter corrected to
"face-on" (i = 0), and corrected for galactic extinction to Ag = 0,
but not for redshift, as explained in Section 3.4.d, page 29.
Note on PA:
Position angle, measured in degrees from north through east (all
<180), taken when available from UGC, ESO, and ESGC (and in a few
cases from H I data) (Section 3.5.a, page 30).
Note on Ag:
Galactic extinction in B-band magnitudes, calculated following
Burstein and Heiles (1978a,b, 1982, 1984) as explained in Section
3.5.b, page 30.
Note on Ai:
Internal extinction in B-band magnitudes (for correction to
face-on), calculated from log R and T as explained in Section
3.5.c, page 31.
Note on A21:
A21 = H I line self-absorption in magnitudes (for correction to
face-on), calculated from log R and T greater or equal to 1 as
explained in Section 3.5.d, page 32.
Note on BT:
BT = total (asymptotic) magnitude in the B system derived by
extrapolation from photoelectric aperture- magnitude data, BAT, and
from surface photometry with photoelectric zero point, BSTas
explained in Section 3.6.a, page 32.
Note on BT_code:
"M" = BT is the weighted mean of BAT and BST,
"S" = only surface photometry used
"V" = BT is a V-band magnitude rather than a B-band magnitude
"v" = the nucleus of the galaxy is variable.
"*" indicates that deriving BAT would have required an
extrapolation in excess of 0.75 mag.
Note on Bmag and e_Bmag:
Photographic magnitude and its mean error from Ames (1930), Shapley
and Ames (1932), CGCG, Buta and Corwin (1986), and/or Lauberts and
Valentijn (1989) reduced to the BT system as explained in Section
3.6.b, page 37.
Note on mFIR:
Calculated from mFIR = -20.0 - 2.5 logFIR, where FIR is the far
infrared continuum flux measured at 60 and 100 microns as listed in
the IRAS Point Source Catalog (1987) II/125. For galaxies larger
than 80 in RC2 and for the Virgo cluster area, resolved by the IRAS
beam, integrated fluxes are taken from Rice et al.(1988) or Helou et
al.(1988). See Section 3.6.c, page 43, for details.
Note on BoT:
Total "face-on" magnitude corrected for galactic and internal
extinction, and for redshift as explained in Section 3.6.d, page
44.
Note on B-VT and U-BT:
Total (asymptotic) color index in the Johnson B-V and U-B system,
respectively, derived by extrapolation from photoelectric
color-aperture data, and/or from surface photometry with a
photoelectric zero point as explained in Section 3.7.a, page 45.
Note on B-VoT and U-BoT:
Total B-V and U-B color indices, respectively, corrected for
galactic and internal extinction, and for redshift, as explained in
Section 3.7.b, page 47.
Note on B-Ve and U-Be:
Mean B-V and U-B color indices, respectively, within the effective
aperture Ae, derived by interpolation from photoelectric
color-aperture data as explained in Section 3.7.a, page 45.
Note on m'e:
Mean B-band surface brightness in magnitudes per square arcmin
(B-m/sm) within the effective aperture Ae, and its mean error,
calculated by the relation m'e= BT + 0.75 + 5 logAe- 5.26. This m'e
is statistically related to the effective mean surface brightness,
mu'e (RC2, p. 31; Olson and de Vaucouleurs 1981), with which it
coincides when log R = 0 (i = 0) (Section 3.8.a, page 49).
Note on m'25:
The mean surface brightness in magnitudes per square arcmin
(B-m/sm) within the muB = 25.0 B-m/ss elliptical isophote of major
axis log D25 and axis ratio log R25, defined as in RC2 (Equation
21) by:
m'25= BT + delta(m25) + 5 logD25- 2.5 logR25- 5.26,
where delta(m25) = 2.5 log LT/L25 = B25 - BT and is the magnitude
increment contributed by the outer regions of a galaxy fainter than
muB = 25.0B-m/ss and, its mean error. For details, see Section
3.8.b, page 50.
Note on m21:
21-cm emission line magnitude defined by m21 = 21.6 - 2.5 log SH ,
where SH is the measured neutral hydrogen flux density in units of
10-24W/m2. For details, see Section 3.9.a, page 51.
Note on W20 and W50:
Neutral hydrogen line full width (in km/s) measured at the 20%
level (I20/Imax) and the 50% level (I50/Imax), respectively, as
explained in Section 3.9.b, page 51.
Note on HI:
Corrected neutral hydrogen index, which is the difference
mo21-BoT between the corrected (face-on) 21-cm emission line
magnitude and the similarly corrected magnitude in the BT system.
Details are given in Section 3.9.c, page 52. Since m21 and BT are
listed separately in columns 6 and 9, record 1, there is no need to
print the uncorrected index.
Note on V21:
The mean heliocentric radial velocity derived from neutral hydrogen
observations, as explained in Section 3.10.a, page 52.
Note on cz:
The mean heliocentric radial velocity, derived from optical
observations, as explained in Section 3.10.b, page 53.
Note on VGSR:
The weighted mean of the neutral hydrogen and optical velocities,
corrected to the "Galactic standard of rest", as explained in
Section 3.10.c, page 54.
Note on V3K:
The weighted mean velocity corrected to the reference frame defined
by the 3K microwave background radiation, as explained in Section
3.10.d, page 55.
NOTE: The references with many of the descriptions are to the page
numbers in Volume 1 of the printed catalogue.
Construction of the current version of the RC3:
The RC3 was received electronically from Dr. Harold Corwin. It was
transferred to a Dec-alpha work station for examination and then to
a Cray computer for processing and archiving. Dr. Corwin also
provided the introduction to the catalogue in LaTeX for the
original version of the Third Reference Catalog. This introduction
has been modified for the present document.
Several changes were made in the catalogue. The printed version
contained plus/minus signs. Since the eighth bit, which
distinguishes special characters, tends to be dropped when the file
is transferred electronically, these have all been removed; the
meaning is obvious. The original version of the catalog contained
four records for each galaxy. Those values in the same columns were
often related. The catalog has been reformatted into a single
record per galaxy and the order of the data has been changed to
keep related information contiguous. Extra blank columns which
resulted from the original structure have been removed, keeping a
single blank between adjacent columns.
Acknowlegements:
We sincerely thank Dr. Harold Corwin for sending us the RC3 and the
LaTeX version of the introduction. We also thank him for extensive
advise during the production of the original document and for a
careful reading of this final product. We thank Dr. Francois Ochsenbein
for help in formatting this document.
Historical Notes:
* 16-Feb-1995: Documentation done by Nancy G. Roman [SSDOO/ADC]
* 28-Oct-1995: the values of RA (1950 and 2000) originally reported with
a 0.1 min were converted to seconds at CDS
(see notes above on RAs and RAs1950)
See also:
VII/112 : RC2 Catalogue
VII/119 : PGC Catalogue (Paturel et al., =1989A&AS...80..299P)
J/A+AS/116/15 : Spiral galaxies global HI profiles (Kamphuis et al., 1996)
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(End) Nancy G. Roman [SSDOO/ADC], Francois Ochsenbein [CDS] 16-Feb-1995