Detection, Photometry, and Slitless Radial Velocities of 535 Planetary Nebulae in the Flattened Elliptical Galaxy NGC 4697

摘要

We have detected 535 planetary nebulae (PNs) in the flattened elliptical galaxy NGC 4697 using the classic on-band, off-band filter technique with the Focal Reducer and Spectrograph at the Cassegrain focus of the first 8 m telescope unit of the ESO Very Large Telescope. From our photometry, we have built the [O III] λ5007 planetary nebula luminosity function (PNLF) of NGC 4697. It indicates a dis- tance of 10.5 ± 1 Mpc to this galaxy, in good agreement with the distance obtained from surface bright- ness fluctuations and substantially smaller than a previous estimate of 24 Mpc used in earlier dynamical studies.