Morphological number-counts from the ultradeep HST images

Original · EN

We discuss the observations leading to the Faint Blue Galaxy problem and the uncertainties upon which faint galaxy models are based. Using deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging with the Wide Field Planetary Camera (WFPC2), we show how morphological information has been used to shed new light on the problem. Initial results indicate that the giant galaxies (ellipticals and early-type spirals), are well fit by no-evolution standard models down to mᵢ 24.5 (z 0.8). The data also show that the faint blue galaxies have late-type/irregular morphologies and cannot be adequately modelled until better constraints are placed on the local space density for this class of galaxies.