The Hawaii K-Band Galaxy Survey. I. Deep K-Band Imaging
Abstract
We present the results of a very deep K-band survey with a 5σ total galaxy magnitude limit of K = 21.9 in the deepest field. A 5 σ K-band-selected sample of 123 galaxies is presented, together with their optical colors. Only three galaxies in this sample are not detected at the 1 σ level in the Kron-Cousins I band. At K <= 20 the reddest (I-K) color is 5.1 +/- 0.4, and 15 of the 123 objects in the deep field sample have (I-K) > 4. In the blue, the galaxies show a rapid blueward trend at magnitudes beyond K = 19, dropping from a median (B-K) = 6 at K = 18 to a median (B-K) of only 4.2 at K = 21.5. The surface density of (I-K) > 4 objects is interpreted to imply either that there is a significant evolution toward later types in the colors of the normal galaxy population beyond z = 1.1 or that galaxies have faded by that redshift.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- October 1994
- DOI:
- 10.1086/174709
- Bibcode:
- 1994ApJ...434..114C
- Keywords:
-
- Astronomical Photometry;
- Extremely High Frequencies;
- Galactic Evolution;
- Infrared Imagery;
- Sky Surveys (Astronomy);
- Cosmology;
- Red Shift;
- Astronomy;
- GALAXIES: EVOLUTION;
- GALAXIES: PHOTOMETRY;
- INFRARED: GALAXIES