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RC3_CFHT: Entries in the Third Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies which have CFHT observations.

General characteristics

Reference

Description

The catalogue is an good copy of the printed version. The main differences are the (+/-) sign in the paper copy which is replaced by the standard ascii character "@".

Field list

ra
Description: right ascension for the equinox 2000.0 precessed from the 1950.0 position (see below) given to 0.1 second of time when available, and to 0.1 minute of time otherwise.

dec
 Description: declination for the equinox 2000.0 precessed from the 1950.0 position (see below) given to 1 arcsec when available, and to 1 arcmin otherwise.

lii
 Description: Galactic longitude computed from ra and dec

bii
Galactic longitude computed from ra and dec The precision of lii and bii(though depending on the precision of ra and dec) is better than that in l and b

l
Galactic longitude in the IAU 1958 system, to deg 0.01

b
Galactic latitude in the IAU 1958 system, to deg 0.01

sl
Supergalactic longitude, to deg 0.01

sb
Supergalactic latitude, to deg 0.01

ra_ori
Right ascension for the equinox 1950.0

dec_ori
Declination for the equinox 1950.0

Names = commonly used designations for the galaxies

name1
Names (e.g. LMC, SMC) or NGC and IC designations

name2
UGC (Nilson `73), ESO (Lauberts `82), MCG (Vorontsov-Veljaminov et al. `62-`74), UGCA (Nilson `74), CGCG (Zwicky et al. `61-`68) designations, given in that order of preference. MCG designations not listed here are given in UGC and ESO.

name3
Other common designations.

PGC
Paturel et al. `89a,b designation.

Types and Luminosity Classes

type
Mean revised morphological type in the RC2 system, coded as in RC2

sT_nL
Sources of revised type estimates and number of luminosity class estimates

T
Mean numerical index of stage along the Hubble sequence in RC2 system

T_u
T mean error

L
Mean numerical luminosity class in RC2 system.

L_u
L mean error

Optical Diameters and Axis Ratios

logD25
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 (mu )_(bet) = 25.0 B-m/ss, as explained in Section 3.4.a

logD25_u
Mean error on logD25

logR25
Mean decimal logarithm of the ratio D25/d25 measured at or reduced to the surface brightness level (mu)_(bet) = 25.0 B-m/ss, as explained in Section 3.4.b

logR25_u
Mean error on logR25

logAe
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 if emitted

logAe_u
logAe mean error

logD0
Decimal logarithm of the isophotal major diameter corrected to face-on (i=0 deg.), and corrected for galactic extinction to Ag = 0, but not for redshift.

Major Axis Position Angle, Galactic and Internal Extinctions

posan
Position angle, measured in degrees from north through east (all <180 deg.), taken available from UGC,ESO and ESGC (and in few cases from HI data).

Ag
Galactic extinction in B-band magnitudes, calculated following Burstein and Heiles (1978a,1982,1984)

Ai
Internal extinction in B-band magnitudes (for correction to face-on), calculated from logR and T.

A21
HI line self-absorption in magnitudes (for correction to face-on), calculated from logR and T>=1

Optical and Infrared Magnitudes

btot
Total (asymptotic) magnitude in the B system derived by extrapolation from photoelectric aperture-magnitude data and from surface photometry with photoelectric zero point.

btot_u
btot mean error

mb
Photographic magnitude.

mb_u
mb mean error.

mfir
far-infrared magnitude calculated from mfir=-20.0-2.5*log(FIR) where FIR is the far infrared continuum flux measured at 60 and 100 microns as listed in the IRAS_PSC (Point Source Catalog) (1987).

b0t
Total "face-on" magnitude corrected for galactic and internal extinction, and for redshift

Total Color Indices

bmv_t
Total color index in the Johnson B-V system

bmv_tu
bmv mean error.

umb_t
Total color index in the Johnson U-B system

umb_tu
umb mean error

bmv_0t
Total (B-V) color index corrected for galactic and internal extinction, and for redshift

umb_0t
Total (U-B) color index corrected for galactic and internal extinction, and for redshift

Effective Color Indices and B-band Surface Brightness

bmv_e
Mean (B-V) color index within the effective aperture Ae

bmv_eu
bmv_e mean error

umb_e
Mean (U-B) color index within the effective aperture Ae

umb_eu
umb_e mean error

m_e
Mean B-band surface brightness in magnitudes per square arcmin (B-m)/sm within the effective aperture Ae, calculated from the relation m_e = btot + 0.75 + 5*logAe - 5.26. This m_e is statistically related to the effective mean surface brightness with which it coincides when logR=0 (i = 0 deg.)

m_eu
Mean error of m_e

m_25
Mean surface brightness in magnitudes per square arcmin within the (mu)_(bet) = 25.0 B-m/ss elliptical isophote of major axis logD25 and axis ratio logR25, defined as in RC2 by:
m_25 = btot + (DEL)m25 + 5 logD25 -2.5 logR25 -5.26 where
(DEL)m25 = 2.5 log (Lt/L25) = B25 - btot is the magnitude increment contributed by the outer regions of a galaxy fainter than (mu)_(bet) = 25.0 B-m/ss.

m_25u
Mean error on m_25

21-cm Magnitude and Linewidths, Hydrogen Index

m21
21 cm emission line magnitude defined by m21 = 21.6 - 2.5 log S_H where S_H is the measured neutral hydrogen flux density in units of 10^-24 Wm^-2

m21_u
m21 mean error

w20
Neutral hydrogen line full width (in km/s) measured at the 20 % level (I_20/I_max)

w20_u
Mean error on w20

w50
Neutral hydrogen line full width (in km/s) measured at the 50 % level (I_50/I_max)

w50_u
Mean error on w50

HI
Corrected neutral hydrogen index, which is the difference (m21 - btot)_0 between the corrected (face-on) 21cm emission line magnitude and the similarly corrected magnitude in the btot system.

Radial Velocities

v21
= cz is the mean heliocentric radial velocity in km/s derived from neutral hydrogen observations.

v21_u
Mean error on v21

vopt
= cz is the mean heliocentric radial velocity in km/s derived from optical observations.

vopt_u
Mean error on vopt

vgsr
The weighted mean of the neutral hydrogen and optical velocities, corrected to the "Galactic standard of rest"

v3K
The weighted mean velocity corrected to the reference frame defined by the 3^oK microwave background radiation

CFHT EXPOSURE

General characteristics

Field list

airmass
Description: Value of the airmass at the beginning of the exposure

comment
Description: (TBS)

observ. date
Description: (TBS)

dec:
Description: declination

dec_orig
Description: (TBS)

detector:
Description: (TBS)

exposure number:
Description: (TBS)

focusid:
Description: (TBS)

release date:
Description: Date on which the data enter the public domain.

instrument:
Description: Obvious!

exposure time
Description: "Real" exposure time as what the acquisition system think it is. It could differ from the requested time by some large number because of some problems with acquisition software. Be careful!

requested time
Description: Exposure time as requested by the astronomer. It is the exposure time as typed in the request box.

mod julian date
Description: Modified Julian Date at the beginning of the exposure.

X size
Description: (TBS)

Y axis
Description: (TBS)

object
Description: (TBS)

observer
Description: Name of the observer. Please notice that in principle, the observer has no rights to retrieve data still affected by the priority period. The investigator could.

obs type
Description: The observation type could be one of the following:

Since the default setting is OBJECT, the class could contain any kind of frames.

origin
Description: (TBS)

investigator
Description: The owner of the data. It is usually the name of the person who submitted the proposal.

ra_orig
Description: (TBS)

ra
Description: (TBS)

run identification
Description: (TBS)

sidereal time
Description: (TBS)

Please report felications/suggestions/problems to us.

cadc@dao.nrc.ca