CCD images of the fields of 115 radio sources from the 1Jy, S4 and S5 catalogues are presented. New optical counterparts have been found for a total of 34 sources, a large fraction of which had as yet only been described as empty fields on Sky Survey Plates. Of the 54 radio sources with previously published identifications, 50 optical counterparts have been confirmed while for 4 sources new identifications are proposed. R band magnitudes, derived from the CCD images, are provided for all but a few identified optical counterparts. The fields at the positions of 27 radio sources are still empty down to a limiting magnitude of at least m_R_=22mag, requiring much deeper optical as well as additional infrared images for establishing their optical counterparts.
The presence of dust in quasar absorbers, such as damped Ly{alpha} (DLA) systems, may cause the background QSO to appear reddened. We investigate the extent of this potential reddening by comparing the optical-to-infrared colors of QSOs with and without intervening absorbers. Our QSO sample is based on the Complete Optical and Radio Absorption Line System (CORALS) survey of Ellison and coworkers. The CORALS data set consists of 66 radio-selected QSOs at z_em_>=2.2 with complete optical identifications. We have obtained near-simultaneous B- and K-band magnitudes for a subset of the CORALS sample and supplemented our observations with further measurements published in the literature. In total, we have B-K colors for 42 of the 66 QSOs, of which 14 have intervening DLA systems. To account for redshift-related color changes, the B-K colors are normalized using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey QSO composite.
This catalog reports on an extensive optical and infrared study of the 178 radio sources in the Parkes Selected Regions (S > 100 mJy at 2.7 GHz). CCD observations have resulted in the essential completion (95 percent) of optical identifications and have provided B and R photometry. In addition, K photometry has been completed for four of the six selected regions.
We present 976 previously unpublished optical linear polarization measurements of quasars, active galactic nuclei, and some stars observed for interstellar polarization. The observations, covering the period 1981-2000, were made with McDonald Observatory's 2.1m Struve reflector and the Breger photopolarimeter.
To build a large, optically bright, X-ray selected AGN sample we have correlated the ROSAT-FSC (<IX/29>) catalogue of X-ray sources with the USNO (<I/252>) catalogue limited to objects brighter than O=16.5 and then with the APS (<VII/214>) database. Each of the 3212 coincidences was classified using the slitless Hamburg spectra. 493 objects were found to be extended and 2719 starlike. Using both the extended objects and the galaxies known from published catalogues we built up a sample of 185 galaxies with O(APS)<17.0mag, which are high-probability counterparts of RASS-FSC X-ray sources. 130 galaxies have a redshift from the literature and for another 34 we obtained new spectra. The fraction of Seyfert galaxies in this sample is 20%. To select a corresponding sample of 144 high-probability counterparts among the starlike sources we searched for very blue objects in an APS-based color-magnitude diagram. Forty-one were already known AGN and for another 91 objects we obtained new spectra, yielding 42 new AGN, increasing their number in the sample to 83. This confirms that surveys of bright QSOs are still significantly incomplete. On the other hand we find that, at a flux limit of 0.02ct/s and at this magnitude, only 40% of all QSOs are detected by ROSAT.
We use Virtual Observatory (VO) tools to identify optically faint, obscured (i.e., type 2) active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the two Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) fields. By employing publicly available X-ray and optical data and catalogues we discover 68 type 2 AGN candidates.
We present a sample of 723 optically selected BL Lac candidates from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS DR7) spectroscopic database encompassing 8250deg^2^ of sky; our sample constitutes one of the largest uniform BL Lac samples yet derived. Each BL Lac candidate has a high-quality SDSS spectrum from which we determine spectroscopic redshifts for ~60% of the objects. Redshift lower limits are estimated for the remaining objects utilizing the lack of host galaxy flux contamination in their optical spectra; we find that objects lacking spectroscopic redshifts are likely at systematically higher redshifts.
With close pairs of quasars at different redshifts, a background quasar sight line can be used to study a foreground quasar's environment in absorption. We search 149 moderate-resolution background quasar spectra from Gemini, Keck, the MMT, and the SDSS to survey Lyman limit systems (LLSs) and damped Ly{alpha} systems (DLAs) in the vicinity of 1.8<z<4.0 luminous foreground quasars. A sample of 27 new quasar-absorber pairs is uncovered with column densities 10^17.2^cm^-2^<NH<10^20.9^cm^-2^ and transverse (proper) distances of 22h^-1^kpc<R<1.7h^-1^Mpc from the foreground quasars.
We report the results of a study of optical microvariability in radio-quiet and radio-intermediate quasars. Observations were obtained on a total of seven objects: five radio-quiet quasars and two radio-intermediate quasars. No microvariability was detected in either the radio-quiet or radio-intermediate objects in our sample, despite intensive monitoring for several consecutive nights. In one object, PG 1257+346, evidence for interday variability was detected. We examined a sample of 117 radio-quiet objects found in the literature that have been studied for microvariability. This sample is discussed in terms of classification, redshift distribution, R (the ratio of the radio [5GHz] flux to the optical [4400{AA}] flux), optical magnitude, luminosity, and observing strategy.
The goal to this work is to observe a first set of 70 extragalactic sources at optical wavelengths that could achieve the link with the ICRF. Variations in the light curves of these targets are connected with astrophysical processes that could produce displacements of the optical photocenter. Such displacements, if they exist, are critical in the framework of the link of reference systems. Four telescope were used to observe the targets at optical wavelengths. Two of them are located in France, one in Chile, and the last in Australia. First observations were carried out during one year and a half in the R and V bands. A new method of characterizing the compactness of the targets was applied to the images obtained.
