The Spitzer Local Volume Legacy (LVL) global optical photometry

Abstract : We present the global optical photometry of 246 galaxies in the Local Volume Legacy (LVL) survey. The full volume-limited sample consists of 258 nearby (D < 11 Mpc) galaxies whose absolute B-band magnitude span a range of -9.6 < M_B < -20.7 mag. A composite optical (UBVR) data set is constructed from observed UBVR and Sloan Digital Sky Survey ugriz imaging, where the ugriz magnitudes are transformed into UBVR. We present photometry within three galaxy apertures defined at UV, optical, and IR wavelengths. Flux comparisons between these apertures reveal that the traditional optical R25 galaxy apertures do not fully encompass extended sources. Using the larger IR apertures, we find colour-colour relationships where later type spiral and irregular galaxies tend to be bluer than earlier type galaxies. These data provide the missing optical emission from which future LVL studies can construct the full panchromatic (UV-optical-IR) spectral energy distributions.