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Paper: Effects of Extragalactic Background Light on Deep Surface Photometry of Galaxies
Volume: 396, Formation and Evolution of Galaxy Disks
Page: 227
Authors: Zackrisson, E.; Östlin, G.
Abstract: Surface photometry of galaxies at very faint surface brightness levels is largely limited by problems in subtracting the night sky with sufficient accuracy. While most of the sky flux comes from regions in between the observer and the target galaxy (i.e., airglow, zodiacal light, light from the Milky Way), a small fraction – the extragalactic background light – comes from behind the object studied. Here, we argue that since this part of the sky flux can be subject to extinction by dust present in the target galaxy, standard reduction procedures will lead to a systematic over subtraction of this component. This can introduce spurious features in the luminosity and color profiles of galaxies at surface brightness levels similar to that of the extragalactic background itself.
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