A List of Galaxies for Gravitational Wave Searches
  We present a list of galaxies within 100 Mpc, which we call the Gravitational
Wave Galaxy Catalogue (GWGC), that is currently being used in follow-up
searches of electromagnetic counterparts from gravitational wave searches. Due
to the time constraints of rapid follow-up, a locally available catalogue of
reduced, homogenized data is required. To achieve this we used four existing
catalogues: an updated version of the Tully Nearby Galaxy Catalog, the Catalog
of Neighboring Galaxies, the V8k catalogue and HyperLEDA. The GWGC contains
information on sky position, distance, blue magnitude, major and minor
diameters, position angle, and galaxy type for 53,255 galaxies. Errors on these
quantities are either taken directly from the literature or estimated based on
our understanding of the uncertainties associated with the measurement method.
By using the PGC numbering system developed for HyperLEDA, the catalogue has a
reduced level of degeneracies compared to catalogues with a similar purpose and
is easily updated. We also include 150 Milky Way globular clusters. Finally, we
compare the GWGC to previously used catalogues, and find the GWGC to be more
complete within 100 Mpc due to our use of more up-to-date input catalogues and
the fact that we have not made a blue luminosity cut.
