1996A&A...312L...1L

Using long exposures taken in the V and I bands with a 4096x4096pixel CCD array at the prime focus of the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope, we have confirmed the discovery by Sackett et al. (1994) of a flat, faint luminous halo around the edge-on Sc galaxy NGC 5907. This halo is redder than the disk. Its nature is still an observational challenge. We suggest however that its color can only be accounted for by stars less massive than 0.8M_☉. Their total mass in NGC 5907 is very uncertain, but it might possibly account for the excess dynamical mass in this galaxy. Alternatively their distribution might trace the dark potential whithout contributing significantly to the mass. We give upper limits to the extinction by an hypothetical dust in the halo.