1 Introduction

Only a small fraction of elliptical galaxies emit at radio wavelengths. This is probably due to the combination of two factors: 1) the lifetime of the radio source is much less than the typical lifetime of the host galaxy; 2) not all elliptical galaxies may harbor the conditions for radio activity. Therefore, a detailed analysis and comparison of the properties of radio and non-radio galaxies are of great relevance for understanding the phenomenon. Previous optical studies (Hine & Longair 1979; Longair & Seldner 1979; Lilly & Prestage 1987; Prestage & Peacock 1988; Owen & Laing 1989; Smith & Heckman 1989a,b; Owen & White 1991; Gonzalez-Serrano et al. 1993; de Juan et al. 1994; Colina & de Juan 1995; Ledlow & Owen 1995) have investigated the role of galaxy-galaxy interaction in the creation and fueling of nuclear radio sources, as well as the connection between overall galaxy properties (e.g. luminosity and scale length) and radio morphology.

In order to contribute to the study of the photometrical and morphological properties of the galaxies hosting radio sources, we have undertaken a systematic study of low redshift radio galaxies in the optical band.

In a previous paper (Fasano et al. 1996; hereafter Paper I) we presented structural (position angle, ellipticity, Fourier coefficients) and photometric profiles together with isophotal contours in the B and R bands for 29 galaxies extracted from a complete sample of 95 radio galaxies in the redshift range $0.01\leq z \leq0.12$.

Here, we give the results for 50 more galaxies observed in the Cousins R band, bringing to 79, 83% of the original sample, the total number of sources for which we were able to secure data of the required quality. A full discussion of the astrophysical implications of these observations is given in Govoni et al. (1999), where the overall properties of galaxies hosting radio emission are compared with radio quiet ellipticals.

 

Table 1: The sample

IAU name	Other name	Smp.	RA(2000)	DEC(2000)	z	KR	AV	FR	Ref.a
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)	(10)
0255+058	3C 75	WP	02 57 41.5	+06 01 37	0.023	0.02	0.54	I	1
0257-398		EK	02 59 26.6	-39 40 37	0.066	0.06	0.10	II	2
0307-305		EK	03 10 00.9	-30 19 33	0.066	0.06	0.10	II	2
0312-343		EK	03 14 32.7	-34 07 40	0.067	0.06	0.13	I	2
0325+023	3C 88	WP	03 27 53.9	+02 33 42	0.030	0.03	0.51	II	1
0332-391		EK	03 34 07.2	-39 00 04	0.063	0.05	0.10	I	2,3
0344-345		EK	03 46 30.5	-34 22 47	0.053	0.04	0.06	I	2,3
0427-539		WP	04 29 07.3	-53 49 40	0.038	0.03	0.17	I	1
0430+052	3C 120	WP	04 33 10.5	+05 22 15	0.033	0.03	0.67	I	1
0434-225	OF-257	EK	04 36 35.9	-22 26 34	0.069	0.06	0.19	I	2
0446-206	OF-277.2	EK	04 48 29.9	-20 32 13	0.073	0.06	0.19	I	2
0452-190		EK	04 54 17.7	-18 55 29	0.039	0.03	0.26	I	2
0453-206	NGC 1692	WP	04 55 23.6	-20 34 15	0.035	0.03	0.19	I/II	1
0511-305		EK	05 13 31.2	-30 28 49	0.058	0.05	0.10	II	2,3
0533-377		EK	05 35 22.3	-37 43 13	0.096	0.09	0.16	I	2
0546-329		EK	05 48 27.4	-32 58 37	0.037	0.03	0.16	I	2,3
0548-317		EK	05 50 49.4	-31 44 26	0.034	0.03	0.13	II	2
0620-526		WP	06 21 42.4	-52 41 32	0.051	0.04	0.30	I	1
0625-354	OH-342	WP	06 27 06.4	-35 29 16	0.055	0.04	0.38	I	2
0625-536		WP	06 26 20.4	-53 41 35	0.054	0.05	0.34	II	1
0634-205		EK	06 36 32.9	-20 34 53	0.056	0.05	1.22	I/II	2
0712-349		EK	07 13 56.3	-35 01 26	0.044	0.03	1.12	I	2
0718-340		EK	07 20 47.2	-34 07 05	0.029	0.02	1.28	I/ II	2
0806-103	3C 195	WP	08 08 53.3	-10 27 40	0.110	0.10	0.58	II	1
0915-118	Hyd A, 3C 218	WP	09 18 05.5	-12 05 43	0.054	0.04	0.29	I	1
0940-304		EK	09 42 23.2	-30 44 11	0.038	0.03	0.58	I	2
0945+076	3C 227	WP	09 47 45.6	+07 25 20	0.086	0.08	0.19	II	1
1002-320		EK	10 04 39.3	-32 16 43	0.089	0.08	0.51	I	2,3
1043-290		EK	10 46 09.7	-29 21 10	0.060	0.05	0.32	I	2
1053-282	OL-288	EK	10 55 32.5	-28 31 33	0.061	0.05	0.32	I	2
1056-360		EK	10 58 54.6	-36 19 20	0.070	0.06	0.32	I/II	2,3
1107-372	NGC 3557	EK	11 09 57.4	-37 32 17	0.010	0.01	0.51	I	2
1123-351		EK	11 25 52.5	-35 23 40	0.032	0.03	0.42	I	2
1251-122	3C 278	WP	12 54 35.1	-12 34 07	0.015	0.02	0.22	I	1
1251-289		EK	12 54 40.3	-29 13 39	0.057	0.05	0.38	I	2
1257-253		EK	12 59 48.8	-25 39 39	0.065	0.06	0.42	I	2
1258-321		EK	13 01 00.6	-32 26 28	0.017	0.02	0.38	I	2
1318-434	NGC 5090	WP	13 21 12.4	-43 42 15	0.011	0.01	0.53	I	1
1323-271		EK	13 26 10.2	-27 25 36	0.044	0.03	0.32	U	2
1333-337	IC4296	WP	13 36 38.8	-33 57 56	0.013	0.01	0.26	I/II	1,2,3
1344-241		EK	13 47 12.1	-24 22 21	0.020	0.02	0.35	I	2
1354-251		EK	13 57 16.0	-25 23 23	0.038	0.03	0.35	I	2
1400-337	NGC 5419	EK	14 03 38.5	-33 58 43	0.014	0.01	0.35	I	2
1404-267	IC4374	EK	14 07 29.4	-27 01 02	0.022	0.02	0.32	I?	2
1637-771	PGC 058874	WP	16 44 15.7	-77 15 48	0.041	0.03	0.47	II	1,3
1717-009	3C 353	WP	17 20 27.8	-00 58 46	0.031	0.03	0.61	II	1
1733-565		WP	17 37 35.3	-56 34 03	0.098	0.09	0.47	II	1
1928-340	PGC 063333	EK	19 31 37.3	-33 54 40	0.098	0.09	0.45	I	2
1949+023	3C 403	WP	19 52 16.2	+02 30 23	0.059	0.05	0.83	II	1
2221-023	3C 445	WP	22 23 49.8	-02 06 13	0.057	0.05	0.32	II	1
a Radio classification derived from: (1) Morganti et al. (1993) or Morganti et al. (1997); (2) Ekers et al. (1989); (3) Jones & McAdam (1992).

 

Table 2: Observation run of the sample of radio galaxies

Run	Date	Instrumentation	CCD scale
			( $\hbox{$^{\prime\prime}$ }$/pixel)
1	1993 July 19-21	ESO 2.2 m + EFOSC2	0.332
2	1994 September 10-11	ESO 2.2 m + EFOSC2	0.332
3	1996 February 9-11	ESO 1.5 m Danish+DFOSC	0.403
4	1998 March 30-April 2	ESO 1.5 m Danish+DFOSC	0.403
5	1998 September 21-24	NOT-HIRAC	0.110