The Burrell Schmidt Deep Virgo Survey: Tidal Debris, Galaxy Halos, and Diffuse Intracluster Light in the Virgo Cluster

Understand

We present a deep imaging survey of the Virgo Cluster, designed to study the connection between cluster galaxies and Virgo's diffuse intracluster light (ICL).

• Our observations span roughly 16 square degrees and reach a 3-sigma depth of mu(B)=29.5 and mu(V)=28.5 mag/arcsec^2.
• At these depths, the limiting systematic uncertainties are astrophysical: scattered starlight from foreground Galactic dust, and variations in faint background sources.
• The dust-scattered starlight is well-traced by deep far-infrared imaging, making it distinguishable from true Virgo diffuse light.