A deep CCD survey of 12 high-latitude fields

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

A CCD spot survey of 12 random high galactic latitude fields in three bands is discussed, and deep images of each field are shown. A high surface density of faint blue galaxies is revealed, reproducible in all three bands. Cumulative integration times of 22,000 s or more were obtained at prime focus of a 4 m telescope in each field. Unsmoothed surface brightness limits range from 29 mag arcsec^-2^ (10^-8^ Jy arcsec^-2^) at 0.35-0.5 microns, to 26 mag arcsec^-2^ (8 x 10^-8^ Jy arcsec^-2^) at 0.8-1 micron wavelength. This survey has a limiting magnitude which is 3 mag fainter than previous surveys. At this depth, over 150 galaxies arcmin^-2^ are found. Their 0.4-0.6 micron colors are 1.5 mag bluer than nearby galaxies. New techniques were developed for faint object imaging at 0.3-1 microns. These allow detection and photometry at a level of 0.03% of sky background over a spatial scale of 2". R band finding charts and faint B_J_, R, I photometric sequences are given for each of the 12 fields.