Dwarf galaxy candidates around interacting galaxies

After careful cleaning of the images and applying a restrictive S/N criterion we have identified, measured and catalogued all possible extended objects in each field. On the frames, covering 11.4x10.5arcmins, on the order of 100 non-stellar, faint, extended objects were found around each interacting galaxy.

The vast majority (>98%) of these objects had not been previously identified. The number of expected objects in the magnitude range R=18-19.5 exceeds the expected count of background galaxies. This supports the possibility that a density enhancement of extended objects around some interacting galaxies results from the addition of a locally formed dwarf galaxy population.