High-resolution V, I, and K-band imaging of faint field galaxies from the HST medium-deep survey

We present infrared and optical data for 13 galaxies with 16.0 ≤ I ≤ 21 mag previously observed with the Hubble Space Telescope as part of a study of 300 galaxies from the Medium-Deep Survey. We observed four of these galaxies at the Steward Observatory 90″ and 61″ telescopes in the K band (λ_eff = 2.2 μm) with a tip-tilt secondary mirror system (FASTTRAC) designed to give high-resolution infrared images. During nights of good seeing at the 61″ telescope, we were able to derive K-band images with FWHM = 0″.8 for a stack of 158 1-min images. We present V, I, and K-band light profiles for these galaxies at 0″.2.-1″.0 resolution, as well as their optical and infrared photometry and their (V - I) and (V - K) color gradients. The relatively flat color gradients of these galaxies indicate that little or no spectral evolution has occurred since z ∼ 0.8, consistent with previous studies of their scale lengths through the θ-z relation. The majority of this small sample exhibits evidence of significant reddening. The reddening is most likely due to dust, both in the line of sight and in some cases, internal to the galaxies.