VII/273 The Half Million Quasars (HMQ) catalogue (Flesch, 2015)
The Half Million Quasars (HMQ) catalogue.
Flesch E.W.
<Pub. Astron. Soc. Australia 32, 10 (2015)>
=2015PASA...32...10F 2015PASA...32...10F
=2015yCat.7273....0F 2015yCat.7273....0F
ADC_Keywords: QSOs ; Active gal. nuclei ; Redshifts ; Magnitudes
Keywords: catalogs - quasars: general
Abstract:
A quasar catalogue is presented with a total of 510764 objects
including 424748 type 1 QSOs and 26623 type 1 AGN complete from the
literature to 25 January 2015. Also included are 25015 high-confidence
SDSS-based photometric quasars with radio/X-ray associations, 1595 BL
Lac objects, and 32783 type 2 objects. Each object is displayed with
arcsecond-accurate astrometry, red and blue photometry, redshift,
citations, and radio and X-ray associations where present. Also, 114
new spectroscopically confirmed quasars are presented.
Description:
This is a compendium of all type-I QSOs and AGN, and BL Lac objects,
complete from the literature to 25 January 2015. High-confidence
(99%+) photometric SDSS candidates with radio/X-ray associations are
included, plus type-II objects, which bring the total objects to
510764. Objects have been de-duplicated across source catalogs, and
the earliest name and best redshift is presented for each. Astrometry
is fixed onto a combined APM/USNO-B/SDSS optical background, and is
accurate to within 1-2 arcsec in every case. Note: multiply-lensed
images are listed as single objects.
The catalog format is simple, each object is shown as one line bearing
the J2000 coordinates, its name, red and blue optical magnitudes, PSF
class, redshift, the citations for the name and redshift, plus up to
four radio/X-ray identifiers where applicable.
Questions/comments/praise/complaints may be directed to me at
eric(at)flesch.org.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
hmq.dat 182 510764 The Half Million Quasars catalogue
refs.dat 159 2171 References
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See also:
http://quasars.org/HMQ.htm : the HMQ Home Page
VII/258 : Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei (13th Ed.) (Veron+ 2010)
V/134 : Atlas of Radio/X-ray associations (ARXA) (Flesch, 2010)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: hmq.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 11 F11.7 deg RAdeg Right ascension (J2000) (1)
13- 23 F11.7 deg DEdeg Declination (J2000) (1)
26- 50 A25 --- Name ID from the literature
52 A1 --- Cl [ABKQq] Classification of object (2)
53- 55 A3 --- Assoc [2RX ] Summary of associations for object (3)
57- 60 F4.1 mag Rmag ?=- Red optical magnitude (4)
62- 65 F4.1 mag Bmag ?=- Blue optical magnitude (4)
67- 69 A3 --- Comment Comment on optical object (5)
71 A1 --- R [1nx-] Red optical PSF class (6)
73 A1 --- B [1nx-] Blue optical PSF class (6)
75- 80 F6.3 --- z ? Redshift from the literature (7)
82- 85 I4 --- r_Name ? Reference for name, in refs.dat file
87- 90 I4 --- r_z ? Reference for redshift, in refs.dat file
92-113 A22 --- XName X-ray ID, if any (9)
115-136 A22 --- RName Radio ID, if any (9)
138-159 A22 --- Lobe1 Radio lobe ID or extra R/X ID, if any (9)
161-182 A22 --- Lobe2 Radio lobe ID or extra X-ray ID, if any (9)
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Note (1): These are to 7 decimals which is too precise, but which accomodates a
miniscule round-up which prevents inadvertent truncation by the user when
converting to sexagesimal.
Note (2): Classification of object as follows:
Q = QSO from the literature, broad-line unresolved. 424748 of these.
A = AGN, extended/Seyferts/low-luminosity. 26623 of these.
B = BL Lac object, 1595 of these.
q = high-confidence photometric QSO from SDSS NBCKDE/XDQSO, 25015 of these.
K = type II objects, 32783 of these included for user reference.
Note (3): Summary of associations for object as follows:
R = Radio association displayed.
X = X-ray association displayed.
2 = Double radio lobes displayed (declared by data-driven algorithm)
Note (4): Optical data is from the APM (http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~mike/apmcat),
USNO-A & USNO-B
(https://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astrometry/optical-IR-prod/usno-b1.0 ),
and the SDSS (http://sdss.org).
APM/USNO-A magnitudes have been recalibrated from the original values as
documented in QORG (2004A&A...427..387F 2004A&A...427..387F, Cat. J/A+A/427/387), so such
USNO-A magnitudes are often used in preference to USNO-B.
APM galaxies < mag 17.0 are usually shown too bright due to PSF modelling.
Note: many SDSS magnitudes are extinction-"corrected" ∼0.3mag brighter than
photometry.
Note (5): Comment on optical object as follows:
p = optical magnitudes are POSS-I O (violet 4100Å) and E (red 6500Å).
These are preferred because O is well-offset from E, and these plates
were always taken on the same night, thus the red-blue color is
correct even for variable objects.
j = blue magnitude is SERC J (Bj 4800Å blue-green) from the POSS-II or
UKST surveys. Red-blue color is less reliable because the plates were
taken in different epochs, i.e. years apart.
g = blue magnitude is SDSS green 4900Å.
u = blue magnitude is SDSS ultraviolet 3850Å.
b = blue magnitude is Vega 4400Å.
v = red magnitude is visual, ie, white, 5500Å midpoint.
i = red magnitude is infrared 7500Å.
z = red magnitude is infrared z 8500Å.
k = red magnitude is infrared k 22000Å.
(not v/i/z/k) = standard red color 6500Å.
+ = variability nominally(*) detected for both red & blue.
m = proper motion nominally(*) detected.
a = object is an SDSS galaxy with AGN subclass. If also BROADLINE then
HMQ class is 'A', otherwise 'K' (see note 2).
? = identification uncertain (quasar may be located elsewhere).
(*) from USNO-B or Flesch & Hardcastle, 2004A&A...427..387F 2004A&A...427..387F, section A.1 end
Note (6): The APM, USNO-B, and SDSS provide PSF class, albeit using different
criteria. These are shown here as follows:
- = point source / stellar PSF (APM notation: -1, here truncated)
1 = fuzzy / galaxy shape (APM notation: 1 and some 2)
n = no PSF available, whether borderline or too faint to tell, etc.
x = not seen in this color (fainter than plate depth, or confused, etc.)
Note (7): Photometric redshifts are rounded to 0.1 z.
Note (9): Four columns of Radio/X-ray detections are presented:
* 1st column: best X-ray detection (i.e. highest probability association).
* 2nd column: best core Radio detection.
* 3rd column: a radio lobe if the associations (see note 3) show a "2",
otherwise this is an additional radio or X-ray detection.
* 4th column: a radio lobe if the associations (see note 3) show a "2",
otherwise this is an additional X-ray detection.
Legend of Radio/X-ray detections and catalog home pages:
FIRST: VLA FIRST survey, 13Jun05 version, http://sundog.stsci.edu
NVSS: NRAO VLA sky survey, http://www.cv.nrao.edu/nvss
SUMSS: Sydney U. Molonglo, http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/sifa/Main/SUMSS
MGPS: Molonglo galactic plane survey, same attribution as SUMSS
ROSAT: catalogs home page: www.mpe.mpg.de/xray/wave/rosat/catalogue for:
: 1RXH = ROSAT HRI (high resolution imager)
: 1RXS = ROSAT RASS (all-sky survey, both bright & faint)
: 2RXP/2RXF = ROSAT PSPC (position sensitive proportional counter)
1WGA: White, Giommi & Angelini, wgacat.gsfc.nasa.gov/wgacat/wgacat.html
CXO: Chandra Source Catalog, http://cxc.cfa.harvard.edu/csc
CXOX: XAssist Chandra source list, http://xassist.pha.jhu.edu/zope/xassist
3XMM: XMM-Newton, http://xmm.esac.esa.int/xsa
XMMSL: XMM-Newton Slew survey, http://xmm.esac.esa.int/xsa
XMMX: XAssist XMM-Newton source list, xassist.pha.jhu.edu/zope/xassist
1SXPS: Swift X-ray Point Source catalog, http://www.swift.ac.uk/1SXPS
Optical field solutions are calculated from the raw source positions of
all these catalogs as described in my ARXA paper (2010PASA...27..283F 2010PASA...27..283F,
Cat. V/134).
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: refs.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 4 I4 --- Ref [1/2171] Reference number
6- 11 I6 ---- NName ? Count of times used as a citation for the
name. (excluding type 2) (1)
13- 18 I6 --- Nz ? Count of times used as a citation for the
redshift. (excl. type 2) (1)
20- 38 A19 --- BibCode BibCode
40-159 A120 --- Details Standard authors list, year, journal volume &
page, and sometimes a brief description or
website
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Note (1): The citation for the classification (e.g., that the object is a
quasar) can be from either the name or redshift citation.
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Acknowledgements:
Eric Flesch, eric(at)flesch.org
(End) Patricia Vannier [CDS] 12-May-2015