Potential of the Surface Brightness Fluctuations method to measure distances to dwarf elliptical galaxies in nearby clusters

Authors :: Michael Hilker
S. Mieske
Leopoldo Infante
Publication Year :: 2003
Abstract: The potential of the Surface Brightness Fluctuations (SBF) method to determine the membership of dwarf elliptical galaxies (dEs) in nearby galaxy clusters is investigated. Extensive simulations for SBF measurements on dEs in the I-band for various combinations of distance modulus, seeing and integration time are presented, based on average VLT FORS1 and FORS2 zero points. These show that for distances up to 20 Mpc (Fornax or Virgo cluster distance), reliable membership determination of dEs can be obtained down to very faint magnitudes -10<br />Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted by A&A, replaced by version with non-abridged bottom page limit

Subjects :: Time delay and integration
Physics
Astrophysics (astro-ph)
FOS: Physical sciences
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Virgo Cluster
Galaxy
Distance modulus
Space and Planetary Science
Limiting magnitude
Elliptical galaxy
Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Surface brightness
Galaxy cluster
Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics

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