The NOG Sample: Selection of the Sample and Identification of Galaxy Systems

In order to map the galaxy density field in the local universe, we select the Nearby Optical Galaxy (NOG) sample, which is a distance-limited (cz < 6000 km/s) and magnitude--limited (B < 14 mag) sample of 7076 optical galaxies which covers 2/3 (8.29 sr) of the sky (|b|>20^{\circ}) and has a good completeness in redshift (98%). In order to trace the galaxy density field on small scales, we identify the NOG galaxy systems by means of both the hierarchical and the percolation (friends of friends) methods. The NOG provides high resolution in both spatial sampling of the nearby universe and morphological galaxy classification. The NOG is meant to be the first step towards the construction of a statistically well-controlled galaxy sample with homogenized photometric data covering most of the celestial sphere.