Keywords :
radio sources general - astrometry - galaxies: radio - cosmology
Abstract:A deep multicolor optical identification program is presented for a complete sample of 302 radio sources that were observed with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope within 5.52{deg}^2^ down to S_1.4GHz_>~0.6mJy (5{sigma}). Optical identifications are made from multicolor prime focus plates taken with the Kitt Peak 4 meter telescope in the passbands U,J,F and N with approximate respective limiting magnitudes of ~23.3, 23.7, 22.7 and 21.1. The astrometry has systematic errors smaller than 0.2"-0.3", while the random errors are of order 0.4". The agreement between the radio and optical coordinate frames is on average better than 0.25". Identifications are based on positional coincidence using the likelihood ratio method. For
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