# Simulating CCD images of elliptical galaxies

## TL;DR

This paper presents a new simulation tool for creating realistic CCD images of elliptical galaxies, incorporating surface brightness fluctuations, globular clusters, and background galaxies, with customizable physical and instrumental parameters.

## Contribution

The Teramo-SPoT tool is specifically optimized to simulate realistic CCD images of ellipticals, including key observational features and instrumental settings.

## Key findings

- Successfully simulates surface brightness fluctuations in ellipticals
- Includes realistic globular cluster and background galaxy distributions
- Allows customization of physical and instrumental parameters

## Abstract

We introduce a procedure developed by the ``Teramo Stellar Populations Tools'' group (Teramo-SPoT), specifically optimized to obtain realistic simulations of CCD images of elliptical galaxies. Particular attention is devoted to include the Surface Brightness Fluctuation (SBF) signal observed in ellipticals and to simulate the Globular Cluster (GC) system in the galaxy, and the distribution of background galaxies present in real CCD frames. In addition to the physical properties of the simulated objects - galaxy distance and brightness profile, luminosity function of GC and background galaxies, etc. - the tool presented allows the user to set some of the main instrumental properties - FoV, zero point magnitude, exposure time, etc.