The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS). II. A Catalog of Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster

Abstract

The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) is a deep, high resolution imaging campaign that used the 1 deg${}^2$ MegaCam instrument on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope to carry out a comprehensive optical survey of the Virgo cluster, from its core to its virial radius. The NGVS covers a contiguous area of 104 deg${}^2$ (8.63 Mpc${}^2$ at the 16.5 Mpc distance of Virgo) in the $u^{\ast }$-,$g$-,$i$-, and $z$-band, with additional limited coverage in $r$. In this paper, we present the final catalog of Virgo galaxies across the entire NGVS area. The catalog includes 3680 galaxies considered to be $bonafide$ members of the cluster, spanning a factor of 2.5 million in luminosity, from $g=8.42$ mag to $g=24.41$ mag ($M_g=-22.67$ mag to $M_g=-6.68$ mag). With 2100 previously uncataloged galaxies, the NGVS catalog augments the number of known Virgo members by a factor 2.3. The catalog is complete down to $g=18.6$ mag ($M_g=-12.5$ mag, corresponding to a stellar mass $M_{\ast }\sim 1.6\times 10^7{M}_{\odot }$ for an old stellar population) and 50% complete at $g=22.0$ mag ($M_g=-9.1$ mag, $M_{\ast }\sim 6.2\times 10^5{M}_{\odot }$), three magnitudes deeper than the venerable Virgo Cluster Catalog (VCC), which for over 40 years has served as the reference standard for Virgo. Photometric and structural parameters are derived for all NGVS galaxies and presented in a series of tables, alongside nuclear and morphological classification, as well as stellar masses and, when available, radial velocities.

The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, accepted