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RC3 - Third Reference Catalog of Bright Galaxies

 HEASARC
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Overview

This table contains the machine-readable version of the Third Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies (RC3) by G. de Vaucouleurs, A. de Vacouleurs, H.G. Corwin, R.J. Buta, P. Fouque, and G. Paturel, originally published by Springer-Verlag in 1991, and including some corrections and additions made by Corwin et al. (1994, AJ, 108, 2128).

Only brief parameter descriptions are given in this help file. Detailed information about, for example, how certain quantities were derived, or exactly what a given code means, can be found in the printed version of RC3.

Catalog Bibcodes

1994AJ....108.2128C
<VII/155/rc3>

References

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)>
Corrections and Additions to the Third Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies
     Corwin, H.G., Buta, R.J., de Vaucouleurs, G.
    <Astron. J., 108, 2128-2144 (1994)>
    =1994AJ....108.2128C

Provenance

This table was created by the HEASARC in March 2007 based on CDS table VII/155/rc3, and replaced an earlier version which did not contain the corrections made by Corwin et al.

Description

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 catalog 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 catalog itself should be addressed to: 

           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. The user 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 this catalog. 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 catalog. 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.

Parameters

Name
The name of the galaxy, e.g., LMC, SMC, its NGC or IC designation, etc.

RA
The Right Ascension of the galaxy in the selected equinox. In the original table, the RAs were given to 0.1 second of time when available, and to 0.1 minute of time otherwise (Section 3.1.a, page 11, of Volume I of the printed version of the RC3).

Dec
The Declination of the galaxy in the selected equinox. In the original table, the Declinations were given to 1 arcsecond of when available, and to 1 arcminute of otherwise (Section 3.1.a, page 11, of Volume I of the printed version of the RC3).

LII
The Galactic Longitude of the X-ray source.

BII
The Galactic Latitude of the X-ray source.

Sg_Lon
The supergalactic longitude of the galaxy given to 0.01 degrees, and in the system where the North supergalactic pole is at (lII, bII) = (47.37, +6.32) and the origin is at (lII, bII) = (137.37, 0.00).

Sg_LAT
The supergalactic latitude of the galaxy given to 0.01 degrees, and in the system where the North supergalactic pole is at (lII, bII) = (47.37, +6.32) and the origin is at (lII, bII) = (137.37, 0.00).

Alt_Name_1
An alternative designation for the galaxy. UGC (Nilson 1973), ESO (Lauberts 1982), MCG (Vorontsov-Velyaminov et al. 1962-1974), UGCA (Nilson 1974), and CGCG (Zwicky et al. 1961-1968) designations, are given in that order of preference.

Alt_Name_2
Another name for the galaxy.

PGC_Name
The PGC Designation of the galaxy (Paturel et al. 1989a,b). For cross identifications of various catalogs with the PGC, see Appendix 10, page 561, of Volume 1 of the printed RC3.

Morph_Type
The mean revised morphological type of the galaxy in the RC2 system, coded as in RC2 (See Table 2 in Section 3.3.a, page 15, of the printed RC3, which is reproduced in the file http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/ftp/cats/VII/155/mtypes.tex.

Ref_Morph_Type
A reference code for the source of the revised morphological type, as listed in Table 3 in Section 3.3.a, page 16, of Vol. I of the printed RC3, with the additions of 'V' to indicate a classification by de Vaucouleurs and '4' to indicate a ring galaxy classified by Buta on 4-meter plates.

Hubble_Stage
The mean numerical index T of the stage along the Hubble Sequence for the galaxy, in the RC2 system, coded as explained in Section 3.3.c, page 16, of Vol. I of the printed RC3 (see also the file http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/ftp/cats/VII/155/mtypes.tex.

Hubble_Stage_Error
The mean error in the value of T, the Hubble stage index.

Lum_Class
The mean numerical DDO (van den Bergh) luminosity class of the galaxy, as explained in Section 3.3.c, page 18, of Vol. I of the printed RC3 (see also the file http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/ftp/cats/VII/155/mtypes.tex.

Lum_Class_Error
The mean error in the numerical DDO (van den Bergh) luminosity class of the galaxy.

Num_Lum_Class_Estimates
The number of estimates used in the calculation of the mean numerical DDO (van den Bergh) luminosity class of the galaxy.

Log_D25
The mean decimal logarithm of the apparent major isophotal diameter, log D25, measured at or reduced to the surface brightness level muB = 25.0 B-mag per square arcsecond, as explained in Section 3.4.a, page 21, of Volume I of the printed RC3. The units of D25 are 0.1 arcminutes.

Log_D25_Flag
This parameter is set to '?' to indicate galaxies for which log D25 is very uncertain.

Log_D25_Error
The mean error in log D25, in units of 0.1 arcminutes.

Log_R25
The mean decimal logarithm of the ratio R25 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-mag per square arcsecond, as explained in Section 3.4.b, page 26, of Volume I of the printed RC3.

Log_R25_Flag
This parameter is set to '?' to indicate galaxies for which log R25 is very uncertain.

Log_R25_Error
The mean error in log R25.

Log_Do
The decimal logarithm of the isophotal major diameter D0, in units of 0.1 arcminutes, corrected to a "face-on" (i = 0 degrees) orientation, and for galactic extinction to Ag = 0, but not for redshift, as explained in Section 3.4.d, page 29, of Volume I of the printed RC3.

Log_Ae
The decimal logarithm of the apparent diameter Ae, in units of 0.1 arcminutes, of the "effective aperture", i.e., of the circle centered on the nucleus of the galxay within which one-half of the total B-band flux is emitted, derived as explained in Section 3.4.c, page 28, of Volume I of the printed RC3.

Log_Ae_Error
The mean error in log Ae, in units of 0.1 arcminutes.

Position_Angle
The position angle of the major axis of the galaxy, measured in degrees from north through east (all < 180 degrees) for the 1950.0 equinox, taken when available from UGC, ESO, and ESGC (and in a few cases from H I data): see Section 3.5.a, page 30, of Volume I of the printed RC3.

BT_Mag
The total (asymptotic) magnitude in the B system, BT, derived by extrapolation from photoelectric aperture-magnitude data, BAT, and from surface photometry with photoelectric zero point, BST, as explained in Section 3.6.a, page 32, of Volume I of the printed RC3.

BT_Mag_Flag
This parameter contains the following possible coded flags for the B_T of the galaxy: 

   "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.
   "E" indicates that deriving BAT would have required an
           extrapolation in excess of 0.75 mag.

BT_Mag_Error
The mean error in the total (asymptotic) B magnitude BT.

Phot_Mag
The photographic magnitude mB 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, of Volume I of the printed RC3.

Phot_Mag_Error
The mean error in the photographic magnitude, m_B.

BT_Mag_Corr
The total "face-on" magnitude BT0 corrected for galactic and internal extinction, and for redshift, as explained in Section 3.6.d, page 44, of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

Surf_Brtness_D25
The mean surface brightness in magnitudes per square arcmin (B-magnitudes per square arcminute) within the muB = 25.0 B-mag per square arcsec elliptical isophote of the major axis log D25 and the axis ratio log R25, defined as in RC2 (Equation 21) by: 

           m'25 = BT +  delta(m25) + 5 log D25 - 2.5 log R25 - 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 = 25.0 B-mag per eq arcsec. For details, see Section 3.8.b, page 50, of Vol I of the printed RC3.

Surf_Brtness_D25_Error
The mean error in the mean surface brightness within the D25 isophote, in B-magnitudes per square arcminute.

Surf_Brtness_Ae
The mean B-band surface brightness in magnitudes per square arcminute within the effective aperture Ae, calculated by the relation 

           m'e = BT + 0.75 + 5 log Ae - 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, of Vol I of the printed RC3).

Surf_Brtness_Ae_Error
The mean error in the mean B-band surface brightness within the effective aperture, in B-magnitudes per square arcminute.

Far_IR_Mag
The far-infrared magnitude calculated from the relation mFIR = -20.0 - 2.5 log FIR, where FIR is the weighted average far-infrared continuum flux measured at 60 and 100 microns as listed in the IRAS Point Source Catalog (1987; CDS Cat. <II/125>). For galaxies larger than 8 arcmin in RC2 and for the Virgo cluster area, which are well-resolved by the IRAS beam, integrated fluxes were taken from Rice et al.(1988) or Helou et al.(1988). See Section 3.6.c, page 43, of Vol. I of the printed RC3 for more details.

H_21cm_Mag
The 21-cm emission-line magnitude defined by m21 = 21.6 - 2.5 log SH, where SH is the measured neutral hydrogen flux in units of 10-24 W/m2. For details, see Section 3.9.a, page 51, of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

H_21cm_Mag_Error
The mean error in the 21-cm emission-line magnitude m21.

BV_Color_Tot
The total (asymptotic) color index in the Johnson B-V system, (B-V)T, 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, of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

BV_Color_Tot_Error
The mean error in (B-V)T.

BV_Color_Ae
The mean B-V color index within the effective aperture Ae, (B-V)e, derived by interpolation from photoelectric color-aperture data, as explained in Section 3.7.a, page 45 of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

BV_Color_Ae_Error
The mean error in (B-V)e.

BV_Color_Tot_Corr
The total B-V color index, (B-V)T0, corrected for galactic and internal extinction, and for redshift, as explained in Section 3.7.b, page 47, of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

UB_Color_Tot
The total (asymptotic) color index in the Johnson U-B system, (U-B)T, 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, of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

UB_Color_Tot_Error
The mean error in (U-B)T.

UB_Color_Ae
The mean U-B color index within the effective aperture Ae, (U-B)e, derived by interpolation from photoelectric color-aperture data, as explained in Section 3.7.a, page 45 of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

UB_Color_Ae_Error
The mean error in (U-B)e.

UB_Color_Tot_Corr
The total U-B color index, (U-B)T0, corrected for galactic and internal extinction, and for redshift, as explained in Section 3.7.b, page 47, of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

H_Index_Corr
The corrected neutral hydrogen index, HI, which is the difference, m210 - BT0, 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, of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

A_Bmag_Internal
The internal extinction Ai in B-band magnitudes (for the correction to face-on), calculated from log R25 and Hubble stage index T as explained in Section 3.5.c, page 31, of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

A_H_21cm
The A21 or H I line self-absorption in magnitudes (for correction to face-on), calculated from log R25 and T values greater or equal to 1, as explained in Section 3.5.d, page 32, of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

A_Bmag_Galactic
The Galactic extinction Ag in B-band magnitudes, calculated following Burstein and Heiles (1978a,b, 1982, 1984,) as explained in Section 3.5.b, page 30, of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

H_21cm_W20
The weighted mean neutral hydrogen line full width W20 (in km/s) measured at (or reduced to) the 20% level compared to the maximum intensity, as explained in Section 3.9.b, page 51, of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

H_21cm_W20_Error
The mean error in the H I line full width at the 20% level, in km/s.

H_21cm_W50
The weighted mean neutral hydrogen line full width W50 (in km/s) measured at (or reduced to) the 50% level compared to the maximum intensity, as explained in Section 3.9.b, page 51, of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

H_21cm_W50_Error
The mean error in the H I line full width at the 50% level, in km/s.

H_21cm_Radial_Vel
The mean heliocentric radial velocity V21 derived from neutral hydrogen observations, in km/s, as explained in Section 3.10.a, page 52 of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

H_21cm_Radial_Vel_Error
The mean error in the mean heliocentric radial velocity V21, in km/s.

Radial_Velocity
The mean heliocentric radial velocity, Vopt = c * z, derived from optical observations, in km/s, as explained in Section 3.10.b, page 53 of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

Radial_Velocity_Error
The mean error in the mean heliocentric radial velocity Vopt, in km/s.

Radial_Velocity_GSR
The weighted mean of the neutral hydrogen and optical velocities, in km/s, and corrected to the "Galactic standard of rest", as explained in Section 3.10.c, page 54, of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

Radial_Velocity_3K
The weighted mean velocity corrected to the reference frame defined by the 3 K microwave background radiation, in km/s, as explained in Section 3.10.d, page 55, of Vol. I of the printed RC3.

Class
The HEASARC Browse object classification, derived from the galaxy class part (the second character) of the galaxy's morphological type, i.e., whether it is an elliptical, lenticular, spiral or irregular galaxy.

Contact Person

Questions regarding the RC3 database table can be addressed to the HEASARC Help Desk.
Page Author: Browse Software Development Team
Last Modified: Monday, 16-Sep-2024 17:33:38 EDT