Emission-Line Galaxies in the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph Parallel Survey. I. Observations and Data Analysis

June 2003 • 2003ApJS..146..209T

Authors • Teplitz, Harry I. • Collins, Nicholas R. • Gardner, Jonathan P. • Hill, Robert S. • Heap, Sara R. • Lindler, Don J. • Rhodes, Jason • Woodgate, Bruce E.

Abstract • In the first 3 years of operation the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) obtained slitless spectra of ~2500 fields in parallel to prime Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations as part of the STIS parallel survey (SPS). The archive contains ~300 fields at high Galactic latitude (b>30^deg) with spectroscopic exposure times greater than 3000 s. This sample contains 219 fields (excluding special regions and requiring a consistent grating angle) observed between 1997 June 6 and 2000 September 21, with a total survey area of ~160 arcmin². At this depth, the SPS detects an average of one emission-line galaxy per three fields. We present the analysis of these data and the identification of 131 low- to intermediate-redshift galaxies detected by optical emission lines. The sample contains 78 objects with emission lines that we infer to be redshifted [O II] λ3727 emission at 0.43<z<1.7. The comoving number density of these objects is comparable to that of Hα-emitting galaxies in the NICMOS parallel observations. One quasar and three probable Seyfert galaxies are detected. Many of the emission-line objects show morphologies suggestive of mergers or interactions. The reduced data are available upon request from the authors.

Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from the data archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.

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Harry Teplitz

Senior Scientist