Letter to the Editor

The Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey^*

I. Luminosity function

J. I. Davies¹, M. Baes², G. J. Bendo³, S. Bianchi⁴, D. J. Bomans⁵, A. Boselli⁶, M. Clemens⁷, E. Corbelli⁴, L. Cortese¹, A. Dariush¹, I. De Looze², S. di Serego Alighieri⁴, D. Fadda⁸, J. Fritz², D. A. Garcia-Appadoo⁹, G. Gavazzi¹⁰, C. Giovanardi⁴, M. Grossi¹¹, T. M. Hughes¹, L. K. Hunt⁴, A. P. Jones¹², S. Madden¹³, D. Pierini¹⁴, M. Pohlen¹, S. Sabatini¹⁵, M. W. L. Smith¹, J. Verstappen², C. Vlahakis¹⁶, E. M. Xilouris¹⁷ and S. Zibetti¹⁸

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, The Parade, Cardiff, CF24 3AA, UK
² Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281 S9, 9000 Gent, Belgium e-mail: jid@astro.cf.ac.uk
³ Astrophysics Group, Imperial College London, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK
⁴ INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
⁵ Astronomical Institute, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitaetsstr. 150, 44780 Bochum, Germany
⁶ Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, UMR 6110 CNRS, 38 rue F. Joliot-Curie, 13388 Marseille, France
⁷ INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
⁸ NASA Herschel Science Center, California Institute of Technology, MS 100-22, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
⁹ ESO, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Vitacura, Santiago, Chile
¹⁰ Universita' di Milano-Bicocca, piazza della Scienza 3, 20100, Milano, Italy
¹¹ Centro de Astronomia e Astrofísica da Universidade de Lisboa, Observatório Astronómico de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-018, Lisboa, Portugal and CAAUL, Observatório Astronómico de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-018, Lisboa, Portugal
¹² Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), Bâtiment 121, Université Paris-Sud 11 and CNRS, 91405 Orsay, France
¹³ Laboratoire AIM, CEA/DSM- CNRS - Université Paris Diderot, Irfu/Service d'Astrophysique, 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France
¹⁴ Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse, Postfach 1312, 85741, Garching, Germany
¹⁵ INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133, Roma, Italy
¹⁶ Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, PO Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
¹⁷ Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, National Observatory of Athens, I. Metaxa and Vas. Pavlou, P. Penteli, 15236 Athens, Greece
¹⁸ Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie, Koenigstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany

Received: 30 March 2010
Accepted: 9 April 2010

Abstract

We describe the Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey (HeViCS) and the first data obtained as part of the science demonstration phase (SDP). The data cover a central 4×4 sq deg region of the cluster. We use SPIRE and PACS photometry data to produce 100, 160, 250, 350 and 500 μm luminosity functions (LFs) for optically bright galaxies that are selected at 500 μm and detected in all bands. We compare these LFs with those previously derived using IRAS, BLAST and Herschel-ATLAS data. The Virgo cluster LFs do not have the large numbers of faint galaxies or examples of very luminous galaxies seen previously in surveys covering less dense environments.