IAU02631
Presentation type requested: ORAL
FITTING 20,000 GALAXIES: GALFIT MEETS GEMS
Boris Häußler
Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie

Hierarchical models of galaxy formation predict evolution in galaxy luminosities, masses, scale sizes and morphologies as a function of cosmic time. In order to study the physics of galaxy evolution, GEMS has taken the largest area deep image ever taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, a ~30'x30' ACS mosaic in the F606W and 850LP bands. It contains around 20,000 galaxies, 10,000 with known redshifts in the interval 0.2<z<1.2 . In order to unlock the potential of this unprecedented dataset, accurate, automated and well understood measures of galaxy morphology and scale size are required. We use GALFIT, a software package that fits the two-dimensional image information with a single or multiple-component fits. In this talk, we discuss the completeness properties of the GEMS survey, and the systematic and random uncertainties inherent to single and multiple-component galaxy fitting.

Rix Hans-Walter , Beckwith Steven , Barden Marco , Bell Eric , Borch Andrea , Caldwell John , Jahnke Knud , Jogee Shardha, McIntosh Dan, Meisenheimer Klaus, Peng Chien, Sanchez Sebastian, Somerville Rachel, Wisotzki Lutz, Wolf Christian.

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