6 Conclusions

We have presented new photometric BVI data for 10 Seyfert 1 galaxies together with narrow band H$\alpha$ images for 6 of these objects. The absolute B magnitudes of the galaxies, M_B, are found to be spread over a large interval, from -18.74 to -22.34. Integrated (B-V) and (V-I) colors as well as morphological types are derived for the first time in most of the objects. We found that the morphologies are confined to early type galaxies: one elliptical, five SO, one Sa and three Sb. Overall, 50% of the objects can be considered as compacts. Bars are found only in 2 cases (22%). The (B-V) colors of the galaxies are shown to be biased to the blue. In fact, the SO galaxies of the sample shows, on average, (B-V)=0.78, significantly bluer than the average for this morphological type. We interpret this effect as due to a high contribution of the AGN and/or the disk to the total luminosity of the galaxy.

Signs of tidal interactions are detected in six galaxies of the sample. The case for CTS A08.12 is interesting since it seems to be located in a poor cluster not yet identified in the literature. However, it is not possible to confirm if they are physical interacting objects due to the lack of radial velocities of the suggested companions.

Luminosity profiles were adequately fitted to the Gauss + bulge + disk components. In six out of eight disk models it was necessary to truncate the exponential profile in order to improve the fit. The radius of the central cutoff ranged from 3 up to 10 kpc and it usually corresponds to reddened regions, generally well identified in the B-V color maps. These regions present very similar colors among the sample galaxies, $(B-V)\sim1.2$. We associate them with the presence of dust in the inner few kiloparsecs of the galaxies.

The profile decomposition allowed us to derive the luminosity contribution of the AGN, bulge and disk separately. We found that in the blue band the AGN contribution to the total luminosity varies from 3% up to 56%. In addition, the bulge to disk ratio ranges from $L_{\rm bulge}/L_{\rm disk}=0.6$ to 22.

H$\alpha$ images show that only 1 out of 6 galaxies presents disk emission. Additional data is needed in order to confirm whether this emission is photoionized by the nuclear continuum or any starbutst component.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr. S. Lumsden (referee) for his comments and sugestions.
This work was partially supported by SECyT, PRONEX/FINEP grants 76.97.10003.00 and Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo - FAPESP, under contract 00/01020-5.