WINGS Data Release: a database of galaxies in nearby clusters

¹ University of Padova, Department of Physics and Astronomy “G. Galilei”, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio, 2, 35122 Padova, Italy
e-mail: alessia.moretti@oapd.inaf.it
² INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio, 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
³ Sterrenkundig Observatorium Vakgroep Fysica en Sterrenkunde Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281, S9 9000 Gent, Belgium
⁴ Observatoire de Genève, Université de Genève, 51 Ch. des Maillettes, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
⁵ Centro de Estudios de Fisica del Cosmos de Aragon, Plaza San Juan, 1, 44001 Teruel, Spain
⁶ Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), Todai Institutes for Advanced Study, the University of Tokyo, 277-8582 Kashiwa, Japan
⁷ Australian Astronomical Observatory, PO Box 915, NSW 1670 North Ryde, Australia
⁸ Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena CA 91101, USA
⁹ Niels Bohr Institute, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
¹⁰ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, via G.B. Tiepolo 11, Trieste, Italy

Received: 21 November 2013
Accepted: 3 March 2014

Abstract

Context. To effectively investigate galaxy formation and evolution, it is of paramount importance to exploit homogeneous data for large samples of galaxies in different environments.

Aims. The WIde-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey (WINGS) project aim is to evaluate physical properties of galaxies in a complete sample of low redshift clusters to be used as reference sample for evolutionary studies. The WINGS survey is still ongoing and the original dataset will be enlarged with new observations. This paper presents the entire collection of WINGS measurements obtained so far.

Methods. We decided to make use of the Virtual Observatory (VO) tools to share the WINGS database (that will be updated regularly) with the community. In the database each object has one unique identification (WINGSID). Each subset of estimated properties is accessible using a cone search (including wide-field images).

Results. We provide the scientific community with the entire set of wide-field images. Furthermore, the published database contains photometry of 759 024 objects and surface brightness analysis for 42 275 and 41 463 galaxies in the V and B band, respectively. The completeness depends on the image quality, and on the cluster redshift, reaching on average 90% at V ≲ 21.7. Near-infrared photometric catalogs for 26 (in K) and 19 (in J) clusters are part of the database and the number of sources is 962 344 in K and 628 813 in J. Here again the completeness depends on the data quality, but it is on average higher than 90% for J ≲ 20.5 and K ≲ 19.4. The IR subsample with a Sersic fit comprises 71 687 objects. A morphological classification is available for 39 923 galaxies. We publish spectroscopic data, including 6132 redshifts, 5299 star formation histories, and 4381 equivalent widths. Finally, a calculation of local density is presented and implemented in the VO catalogs for 66 164 galaxies. The latter is presented here for the first time.