The Virgo Cluster
Spring 2004:
3 dark runs (6 weeks total)
Image Virgo's core (plus Hercules!)
75 dithered Virgo fields, plus > 100 offset skies for flat fielding
achieved a limiting surface brightness of 28.5 mag/arcsec
2
in V
1.5 mag/arcsec
2
fainter than earlier work
(Malin 1994; Weil et al 1997; Katsayannis et al 1998)
calibrated, quantitative photometric solution with a well-understood error model.
The Virgo "Cat Scan"
We see:
long streams (>100 kpc)
orbital arcs
extended halos
common envelopes
tidal debris everywhere!
hierarchical evolution
Analysis (in progress):
how much?
compare to PNe
halo structure
dwarfs
What's next?
Spring 2005: 3 more fields imaged, data "being reduced"
Spring 2006: Engineering: 2nd CCD, field flattener, new AR coatings (and data reduction)
Spring 2007 and beyond (NSF-willing!):
expand the survey outside the core and down to the southern extension
obtain color information on the core field.
