Description
We present and discuss optical measurements of the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function down to M_R_=-10 in five different local environments of varying galaxy density and morphological content. The environments we studied, in order of decreasing galaxy density, are the Virgo Cluster, the NGC 1407 Group, the Coma I Group, the Leo Group and the NGC 1023 Group. Our results come from a deep wide-angle survey with the National Astronomical Observatories of Japan Subaru 8-m Telescope on Mauna Kea and are sensitive down to very faint surface-brightness levels. Galaxies were identified as group or cluster members on the basis of their surface brightness and morphology. The faintest galaxies in our sample have R~22.5. There were thousands of fainter galaxies but we cannot distinguish cluster members from background galaxies at these faint limits so do not attempt to determine a luminosity function fainter than M_R_=-10.
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