Photometry of the central regions in a complete sample of high Bautz-Morgan-type Abell clusters. I. Observations and data calibration

We present CCD photometry of 209 southern Abell clusters selected according to Bautz-Morgan type I, I-II, and II. We have performed total photometry i n the GUM r bandpass, classified stars and galaxies, and obtained structura l parameters for the images. To estimate the photometric and structural err ors on the CCD images and the completeness limits of our photometry, we per formed realistic simulations of stars and galaxies and ran our classificati on algorithms. Here, we present central galaxy counts and metric photometry of the brightest cluster,:members, for which we give accurate positions, a nd compare this photometry with values in the literature. A linear magnitud e-redshift relation has been derived from the tenth-ranked galaxy in each c luster. Photometric redshifts have been estimated for 57 clusters. We provi de either spectroscopic or photometric redshifts for all the clusters in ou r sample. Further analysis of these data will be presented in further publi cations.