A Structural and Dynamical Study of Late-Type, Edge-On Galaxies: I. Sample Selection and Imaging Data

Abstract

We present optical (B & R) and infrared (K_s) images and photometry for a sample of 49 extremely late-type, edge-on disk galaxies selected from the Flat Galaxy Catalog of Karenchentsev et al. (1993). Our sample was selected to include galaxies with particularly large axial ratios, increading the likelihood that the galaxies in the sample are truly edge-on. We have also concentrated the sample on galaxies with low apparent surface brightness, in order to increase the representation of intrinisically low surface brightness galaxies. Finally, the sample was chosen to have no apprarent bulges or optical warps so that the galaxies represent undisturbed, ``pure disk'' systems. The resulting sample forms the basis for a much larger spectroscopic study designed to place constraints on the physical quantities and processes which shape disk galaxies. The imaging data presented in this paper has been painstakingly reduced and calibrated to allow accurate surface photometry of features as faint as 30 mag/sqr-arcsec in B and 29 mag/sqr-arcsec in R on scales larger than 10 arcsec. Due to limitations in sky subtraction and flat fielding, the infrared data can reach only to 22.5 mag/sqr-arcsec in K_s on comparable scales. As part of this work, we have developed a new method for quantifying the reliability of surface photometry, which provides useful diagnostics for the presence of scattered light, optical emission from infrared cirrus, and other sources of non-uniform sky backgrounds.