WINGS: a photometric, morphological and spectroscopic library of nearby cluster galaxies

Abstract. WINGS is a two-band (B and V), wide-field imaging survey of a com-plete, all-sky X-ray selected sample of nearby clusters. This sample comprises 78 clusters in the redshift range z=0.04-0.07. The aim of this survey is to provide the astronomical community with a complete set of homogeneous, CCD-based sur-face photometry and morphological data of cluster galaxies located within 1.5 Mpc from the cluster center. For each cluster, photometric data of about 2500 galaxies (down to V∼23) and detailed morphological information of about 500 galaxies (down to V∼21) are obtained by using specially designed automatic tools. We also illustrate a long term spectroscopic follow-up carried out with the WHT-WYFFOS and AAT-2dF multi-fiber spectrographs. Star formation rates and his-tories, as well as metallicity estimates will be derived for about 350 galaxies per cluster from the line indices and equivalent widths measurements, allowing us to explore the link between the spectral properties and the morphological evolution in high- to low-density environments, and across a wide range in cluster X-ray luminosities and optical properties