Upper panel: surface brightness profiles extracted in 5° wide cones along the major axis (PA = 230°, green squares), minor axis (PA = 320°, blue triangles), and intermediate axis (PA  = 190°, black line) of NGC 3309, which are plotted as a function of R^1/4. The PA at 190°, 230°, and 320° are indicated by the white, green, and blue lines from the center of NGC 3309 in Fig. 11. The red continuous line shows the extracted 1D major-axis profile for the 2D GALFIT “maximal” symmetric model (MSM) fit to the light of NGC 3309. While this is a good fit to the minor axis profile at large radii, the profiles along PA = 230° and PA = 190° show additional light, as they go through the brightest part of the HCC 007 NW stream. Lower panel: surface brightness profile derived from VLT/FORS1 (black line) and 2.2/WFI (red line) V band images along PA = 190°.