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J/AJ/112/407        The FIRST bright QSO survey              (Gregg+, 1996)
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The FIRST bright QSO survey.
    Gregg M.D., Becker R.H., White R.L., Helfand D.J., McMahon R.G., Hook I.M.
   <Astron. J. 112, 407 (1996)>
   =1996AJ....112..407G
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ADC_Keywords: QSOs ; Radio sources ; Photometry ; Redshifts

Abstract:
    The FIRST radio survey provides a new resource for constructing a
    large quasar sample. With source positions accurate to better than
    1" and a point source sensitivity limit of 1mJy, it reaches 50 times
    deeper than previous radio catalogs. We report here on the results of
    the pilot phase for a FIRST Bright Quasar Survey (FBQS). Based on
    matching the radio catalog from the initial 300{deg}^2^ of FIRST
    coverage with the optical catalog from the Automated Plate Machine
    (APM) digitization of Palomar Sky Survey plates, we have defined a
    sample of 219 quasar candidates brighter than E=17.50. We have
    obtained optical spectroscopy for 151 of these and classified 25
    others from the literature, yielding 69 quasars or Seyfert 1 galaxies,
    of which 51 are new identifications. The brightest new quasar has an
    E magnitude of 14.6 and z=0.91; four others are brighter than E=16.
    The redshifts range from z=0.12 to 3.42. Half of the detected objects
    are radio quiet with L_21-cm_<10^32.5^ergs/s. We use the results of
    this pilot survey to establish criteria for the FBQS that will produce
    a quasar search program which will be 70% efficient and 95% complete
    to a 21-cm flux density limit of 1.0mJy.

File Summary:
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 FileName      Lrecl  Records   Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ReadMe            80        .   This file
table1.dat        66       69   FIRST Survey Bright QSOs
table2.dat        68       32   Emission Line Galaxies
table3.dat        70       41   Absorption Line Galaxies
table4.dat        68       31   Stars
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See also:
          VIII/59 : The FIRST Survey, version 1999Jul (White+ 1999)
    J/AJ/118/1435 : VLA FIRST survey quasar radio emission (Wadadekar+, 1999)
   J/ApJS/126/133 : The FIRST bright quasar survey. II. (White+, 2000)

Byte-by-byte Description of file: table*.dat
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   Bytes Format Units     Label     Explanations
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   1-  2  I2    h         RAh       Right ascension (J2000)
   4-  5  I2    min       RAm       Right ascension (J2000)
   7- 11  F5.2  s         RAs       Right ascension (J2000)
      13  A1    ---       DE-       Declination sign (J2000)
  14- 15  I2    deg       DEd       Declination (J2000)
  17- 18  I2    arcmin    DEm       Declination (J2000)
  20- 23  F4.1  arcsec    DEs       Declination (J2000)
  25- 28  F4.1  mag       Omag      O apparent magnitude
  30- 33  F4.1  mag       Emag      E apparent magnitude
  35- 41  F7.1  mJy       S21nuc    20cm flux density
  43- 45  I3    mJy       S21tot    ? Total 20cm flux density including
                                       radio lobes
      46  A1    ---     n_S21tot    [b-l] Individual notes (1)
  48- 52  F5.3  ---       z         ? Emission line redshift
      53  A1    ---     u_z         Uncertainty flag on z
      54  A1    ---     n_z         [a] a: Previously known QSO
  56- 60  F5.2  10-7W/Hz  log(L21)  ? Inferred radio luminosity for the
                                       nuclear radio source
  62- 66  F5.1  mag       EMAG      ? Absolute E magnitude
      68  A1    ---       Note      [mn] Note about FIRST source (2)
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Note (1): Individual notes:
       b: 0744+2920: An asymmetric double ~30" in length
       c: 0754+3033: A suggestion of a weak jet ~15" in length
       d: 0802+3335: An asymmetric double ~60" in extent
       e: 0919+2914: A core-jet geometry ~12" in length
       f: 0937+2937: May have a wide separation double ~120" in length;
           if so, then total flux density is 25 mJy.
       g: 1103+3014: A double ~60" in extent
       h: 1110+3019: An asymmetric double ~45" in length
       i: 1217+3006: A core-halo morphology ~50" in diameter
       j: 1342+2828: A double ~40" in extent
       k: 1348+2840: A core jet morphology ~15" in length
       l: 1348+3020: A core jet morphology ~25" in length; possible radio
           lobe along the perpendicular axis ~40" from the core
Note (2): 
       m: not in later versions of FIRST catalog; peak flux = 0.76 mJy
       n: Not in later versions of FIRST catalog; peak flux = 0.77 mJy
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Acknowledgements: We thank H. Andernach for the preparation of the data files.
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(End)                                        Patricia Bauer [CDS]    16-May-2000