A catalog of compact groups of galaxies in the SDSS commissioning data

Brian C. Lee; Sahar S. Allam; Douglas L. Tucker; James Annis; David E. Johnston; Ryan Scranton; Yamina Acebo; Neta A. Bahcall; Matthias Bartelmann; Hans Böhringer; Nancy Ellman; Eva K. Grebel; Leopoldo Infante; Jon Loveday; Timothy A. McKay; Francisco Prada; Donald P. Schneider; Chris Stoughton; Alexander S. Szalay; Michael S. Vogeley; Wolfgang Voges; Brian Yanny

doi:10.1086/382236

A catalog of compact groups of galaxies in the SDSS commissioning data

Brian C. Lee, Sahar S. Allam, Douglas L. Tucker, James Annis, David E. Johnston, Ryan Scranton, Yamina Acebo, Neta A. Bahcall, Matthias Bartelmann, Hans Böhringer, Nancy Ellman, Eva K. Grebel, Leopoldo Infante, Jon Loveday, Timothy A. McKay, Francisco Prada, Donald P. Schneider, Chris Stoughton, Alexander S. Szalay, Michael S. VogeleyWolfgang Voges, Brian Yanny

Astrophysical Sciences

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82 Scopus citations

Abstract

Compact groups (CGs) of galaxies-relatively poor groups of galaxies in which the typical separations between members is of the order of a galaxy diameter-offer an exceptional laboratory for the study of dense galactic environments with short (<1 Gyr) dynamical timescales. We present an objectively defined catalog of CGs in 153 deg² of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Early Data Release. To identify CGs, we applied a modified version of Hickson's criteria of 1982 aimed at finding the highest-density CGs and thus reducing the number of chance alignments. Our catalog contains 175 CGs down to a limiting galaxy magnitude of r* = 21. The resulting catalog has a median depth of z_med ≈ 0.13, substantially deeper than previous CG catalogs. Since the SDSS will eventually image up to one-quarter of the celestial sphere, we expect our final catalog, based on the completed SDSS, will contain on the order of 5000-10,000 CGs. This catalog will be useful for conducting studies of the general characteristics of CGs, their environments, and their component galaxies.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1811-1859
Number of pages	49
Journal	Astronomical Journal
Volume	127
Issue number	4 1780
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1086/382236
State	Published - Apr 2004

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

Keywords

Atlases
Catalogs
Surveys

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10.1086/382236

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Lee, B. C., Allam, S. S., Tucker, D. L., Annis, J., Johnston, D. E., Scranton, R., Acebo, Y., Bahcall, N. A., Bartelmann, M., Böhringer, H., Ellman, N., Grebel, E. K., Infante, L., Loveday, J., McKay, T. A., Prada, F., Schneider, D. P., Stoughton, C., Szalay, A. S., ... Yanny, B. (2004). A catalog of compact groups of galaxies in the SDSS commissioning data. Astronomical Journal, 127(4 1780), 1811-1859. https://doi.org/10.1086/382236

@article{37a453d137e945e9acc5f132567323eb,

title = "A catalog of compact groups of galaxies in the SDSS commissioning data",

abstract = "Compact groups (CGs) of galaxies-relatively poor groups of galaxies in which the typical separations between members is of the order of a galaxy diameter-offer an exceptional laboratory for the study of dense galactic environments with short (<1 Gyr) dynamical timescales. We present an objectively defined catalog of CGs in 153 deg2 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Early Data Release. To identify CGs, we applied a modified version of Hickson's criteria of 1982 aimed at finding the highest-density CGs and thus reducing the number of chance alignments. Our catalog contains 175 CGs down to a limiting galaxy magnitude of r* = 21. The resulting catalog has a median depth of zmed ≈ 0.13, substantially deeper than previous CG catalogs. Since the SDSS will eventually image up to one-quarter of the celestial sphere, we expect our final catalog, based on the completed SDSS, will contain on the order of 5000-10,000 CGs. This catalog will be useful for conducting studies of the general characteristics of CGs, their environments, and their component galaxies.",

keywords = "Atlases, Catalogs, Surveys",

author = "Lee, {Brian C.} and Allam, {Sahar S.} and Tucker, {Douglas L.} and James Annis and Johnston, {David E.} and Ryan Scranton and Yamina Acebo and Bahcall, {Neta A.} and Matthias Bartelmann and Hans B{\"o}hringer and Nancy Ellman and Grebel, {Eva K.} and Leopoldo Infante and Jon Loveday and McKay, {Timothy A.} and Francisco Prada and Schneider, {Donald P.} and Chris Stoughton and Szalay, {Alexander S.} and Vogeley, {Michael S.} and Wolfgang Voges and Brian Yanny",

year = "2004",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1086/382236",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "127",

pages = "1811--1859",

journal = "Astronomical Journal",

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Lee, BC, Allam, SS, Tucker, DL, Annis, J, Johnston, DE, Scranton, R, Acebo, Y, Bahcall, NA, Bartelmann, M, Böhringer, H, Ellman, N, Grebel, EK, Infante, L, Loveday, J, McKay, TA, Prada, F, Schneider, DP, Stoughton, C, Szalay, AS, Vogeley, MS, Voges, W & Yanny, B 2004, 'A catalog of compact groups of galaxies in the SDSS commissioning data', Astronomical Journal, vol. 127, no. 4 1780, pp. 1811-1859. https://doi.org/10.1086/382236

TY - JOUR

T1 - A catalog of compact groups of galaxies in the SDSS commissioning data

AU - Lee, Brian C.

AU - Allam, Sahar S.

AU - Tucker, Douglas L.

AU - Annis, James

AU - Johnston, David E.

AU - Scranton, Ryan

AU - Acebo, Yamina

AU - Bahcall, Neta A.

AU - Bartelmann, Matthias

AU - Böhringer, Hans

AU - Ellman, Nancy

AU - Grebel, Eva K.

AU - Infante, Leopoldo

AU - Loveday, Jon

AU - McKay, Timothy A.

AU - Prada, Francisco

AU - Schneider, Donald P.

AU - Stoughton, Chris

AU - Szalay, Alexander S.

AU - Vogeley, Michael S.

AU - Voges, Wolfgang

AU - Yanny, Brian

PY - 2004/4

Y1 - 2004/4

N2 - Compact groups (CGs) of galaxies-relatively poor groups of galaxies in which the typical separations between members is of the order of a galaxy diameter-offer an exceptional laboratory for the study of dense galactic environments with short (<1 Gyr) dynamical timescales. We present an objectively defined catalog of CGs in 153 deg2 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Early Data Release. To identify CGs, we applied a modified version of Hickson's criteria of 1982 aimed at finding the highest-density CGs and thus reducing the number of chance alignments. Our catalog contains 175 CGs down to a limiting galaxy magnitude of r* = 21. The resulting catalog has a median depth of zmed ≈ 0.13, substantially deeper than previous CG catalogs. Since the SDSS will eventually image up to one-quarter of the celestial sphere, we expect our final catalog, based on the completed SDSS, will contain on the order of 5000-10,000 CGs. This catalog will be useful for conducting studies of the general characteristics of CGs, their environments, and their component galaxies.

AB - Compact groups (CGs) of galaxies-relatively poor groups of galaxies in which the typical separations between members is of the order of a galaxy diameter-offer an exceptional laboratory for the study of dense galactic environments with short (<1 Gyr) dynamical timescales. We present an objectively defined catalog of CGs in 153 deg2 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Early Data Release. To identify CGs, we applied a modified version of Hickson's criteria of 1982 aimed at finding the highest-density CGs and thus reducing the number of chance alignments. Our catalog contains 175 CGs down to a limiting galaxy magnitude of r* = 21. The resulting catalog has a median depth of zmed ≈ 0.13, substantially deeper than previous CG catalogs. Since the SDSS will eventually image up to one-quarter of the celestial sphere, we expect our final catalog, based on the completed SDSS, will contain on the order of 5000-10,000 CGs. This catalog will be useful for conducting studies of the general characteristics of CGs, their environments, and their component galaxies.

KW - Atlases

KW - Catalogs

KW - Surveys

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U2 - 10.1086/382236

DO - 10.1086/382236

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:17544398864

SN - 0004-6256

VL - 127

SP - 1811

EP - 1859

JO - Astronomical Journal

JF - Astronomical Journal

IS - 4 1780

ER -

A catalog of compact groups of galaxies in the SDSS commissioning data

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Keywords

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