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The distribution of absolute surface intensity has been measured for fifteen elliptical galaxies and nine spiral and barred spiral galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. The observations included blue plates taken with the 24-36-inch Curtis Schmidt telescope of the University of Michigan and with the 48-inch Schmidt telescope of the Mount Palomar Observatory. Isophotes were drawn for the galaxies with the University of Michigan isophotometer. For each galaxy, the surface brightness, ellipticity, and position angle have been tabulated as a function of the major axis of the corresponding isophote. Integrated magnitudes for several of the galaxies have been determined. From two independent arguments it has been concluded that the largest elliptical galaxies in the Virgo Cluster are of globular form; the lenticular, or highly oblate spheroidal, galaxies are to be found among somewhat smaller and fainter systems. Three-dimensional luminosity distributions for the globular galaxies and also for the lenticular galaxies have been derived from the observed intensity and ellipticity data.
M. H. Liller (Thu,) studied this question.