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6. CONCLUSIONS

We have presented an imaging Atlas of 1034 galaxies observed in two UV bands by the GALEX satellite. From these we have derived surface brightness and color profiles in the FUV & NUV GALEX bands. Asymptotic magnitudes and colors along with concentration indices have also been obtained. A morphological classification of the profiles is also carried out. Despite a small but non-negligible excess of high-luminosity and paucity of low-luminosity spiral galaxies (compared with the luminosity distribution of ellipticals both in our and the NFGS samples) it is shown that this sample adequately matches the distribution and full range of properties of galaxies in the local Universe. We have augmented this data set with corollary data from the optical (RC3), NIR (2MASS), and far-infrared (IRAS). We emphasize here the special caution should be observed when comparing these results with those derived from a volume-limited sample. From a broad-based initial analysis of the UV properties of this sample we conclude:

The GALEX and corollary photometry data along with the profiles and UV images of galaxies in the sample can be accessed through a dedicated web page at
/level5/GALEX_Atlas/.)

GALEX (Galaxy Evolution Explorer) is a NASA Small Explorer, launched in April 2003. We gratefully acknowledge NASA's support for construction, operation, and science analysis for the GALEX mission, developed in cooperation with the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales of France and the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology. AGdP is partially financed by the MAGPOP EU Marie Curie Research Training Network and the Spanish Programa Nacional de Astronomía y Astrofísica under grant AYA2003-01676. We thank Cren Frayer and Olga Pevunova for preparing the online version of the Atlas. We are also thankful to the referee for his/her valuable comments which helped to improve the paper.

Facilities: GALEX

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