HIGH-RESOLUTION V-BAND, I-BAND, 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 less th an or equal to I less than or equal to 21 mag previously observed with the Hubble Space Telescope as part of a study of 300 galaxies from th e Medium-Deep Survey. We observed four of these galaxies at the Stewar d Observatory 90 '' and 61 '' telescopes in the K band (lambda(eff)=2. 2 mu m) 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 I-min images. We present V, I, and K-band Lig ht profiles for these galaxies at 0.'' 2-1.'' 0 resolution, as well as their optical and infrared photometry and their (V-l) and (V-K) color gradients. The relatively flat color gradients of these galaxies indi cate that Little or no spectral evolution has occurred since z similar to 0.8, consistent with previous studies of their scale lengths throu gh the theta-z relation. The majority of this small sample exhibits ev idence of significant reddening. The reddening is most likely due to d ust, both in the line of sight and in some cases, internal to the gala xies. (C) 1997 American Astronomical Society.