TITLE: 

The Optical and Near-Infared Colors of
Galaxies. I. The Photometric Data

AUTHORS:

Bershady, M. A., Hereld, M., Kron, R. G., Koo, D. C.,
Munn, J. A., and Majewski, S. R.

PUBLISHED: 

1994, AJ, 108, 870

ABSTRACT:

We present optical and near-infrared photometry and
spectroscopic redshifts of a well defined sample of
171 field galaxies selected from three high-galactic
latitude fields. This data set forms the basis for
subsequent studies to characterize the trends,
dispersion, and evolution of rest-frame colors and
image structure. A subset of 143 galaxies constitutes
a magnitude-limited sample to B~19.9-20.75
(depending on field), with a median redshift of 0.14,
and a maximum redshift of 0.54. This subset is
statistically complete in its sampling of the apparent
color distribution of galaxies. Thirty six galaxies
were selected to have the reddest red-optical colors
in two redshift intervals between 0.2<z<0.3.
Photometric passbands are similar to U, B, V, I, and
K, and sample galaxy spectral energy distributions
between 0.37 and 2.2 microns in the observed frame, or
down to 0.26 microns in the rest frame for the most
distant galaxies. B and K images of the entire sample
are assembled to form the first optical and
near-infrared atlas of a statistically-representative
sample of field galaxies.

We discuss techniques for faint field-galaxy
photometry, including a working definition of a total
magnitude, and a method for matching magnitudes in
different pass-bands and different seeing conditions
to ensure reliable, integrated colors.  Photographic
saturation, which substantially affects the brightest
12\% of our sample in the optical bands, is corrected
with a model employing measured plate-density
distributions for each galaxy, calibrated via similar
measurements for stars as a function of known
saturation level. Both the relative and absolute
calibration of our photometry are demonstrated.