Estimate of the Limiting Magnitudes of the Harvard College Observatory Plate Collection (Abstract)

Volume 38 number 1 (2010)

Edward J. Los

Abstract

(Abstract only) This paper provides estimates of the number of plates in the Harvard College Observatory plate collection which show a given object. The estimate is a function of magnitude and sky location and is based on the analysis of 6,041 plates scanned under the “Digital Access to a Sky Century @ Harvard” program and transcriptions of 199,921 plate centers of the approximately 530,000 plates in the HCO collection. We find that the deepest plates are in the region of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds.