The ESO K'-Band galaxy survey. I. Galaxy counts

P. Saracco, A. Iovino, B. Garilli, D. Maccagni, G. Chincarini
1997 Astronomical Journal  
We present K'-band galaxy counts in the magnitude range 13 < K' < 20, obtained from two independent surveys near the South Galactic Pole, covering an area of ∼ 40 arcmin^2 and ∼ 170 arcmin^2, including ∼ 200 and ∼ 1000 objects respectively up to a magnitude limit K' ∼ 20.0 and K'∼ 19.0. At magnitudes K > 18.5 we surveyed an area more than 7 times wider that covered by previous K-band surveys. Our counts are quite in good agreement with those in the literature at magnitudes brighter than K ∼ 17,
more » ... while are systematically lower at fainter magnitudes. We confirm a change in the slope of the dlogN/dm relation at K' ∼ 17 from 0.57 to 0.35, but do not find the bump shown by other K-band surveys in the magnitude range 16 < K < 20. Furthermore 10 B-K'<3. We suggest that these blue objects represent a population of sub-L^* nearby evolving galaxies.
doi:10.1086/118521 fatcat:z645hwfrwffarh6y26ssyeoj3u