Velocity dispersions and Mg2 index of galaxies

This sample contains the largest set of homogeneous spectroscopic data for a uniform sample of elliptical galaxies in the nearby universe. These galaxies were observed as part of the ENEAR (Redshift-Distance Survey of Nearby Early-Type Galaxies) project, designed to study the peculiar motions and internal properties of the local early-type galaxies.

Using 523 repeated observations of 317 galaxies obtained during different runs, the data are brought to a common zero point. These multiple observations, taken during the many runs and different instrumental setups employed for this project, are used to derive statistical corrections to the data and are found to be relatively small, typically <~5% of the velocity dispersion and 0.01mag in the Mg_2_ line strength. Typical errors are about 8% in velocity dispersion and 0.01mag in Mg_2_, in good agreement with values published elsewhere.