OPTQSO (G6): New Optical Catalog of Quasi-Stellar Objects, 1989 (19930526)
FILE: optqso.g6 (4383 quasars)
CONTENTS: New Optical Catalog of Quasi-Stellar Objects, 1989
DATASET: This file comes in HyperSky dataset G-12, version 19930526. Availability on HyperSky CD-ROM: Vol. 1 (1993)
DESCRIPTION: This datafile contains a total of 4383 quasars and BL Lac objects from the NEW OPTICAL CATALOG OF QUASI-STELLAR OBJECTS, by Hewitt and Burbidge (1989). The catalog is an update of the third (1987) edition of the catalog, and contains "all known quasi-stellar objects with measured emission redshifts, and BL Lac objects, complete to June 1988." According to the 1989 reference, the 1987 catalog contained 3594 QSOs and 87 BL Lac objects, while 707 new QSOs and one BL Lac object were added for the 1989 catalog. However, five QSOs and one BL Lac object were deleted in the 1989 edition. Thus, the 1989 catalog contains 4296 QSOs and 87 BL Lac objects. The 1989 catalog contains, in addition to the new QSOs with redshifts reported since publication of the 1987 version, updated information for objects listed in that catalog.
The HyperSky catalog file is based on the machine-readable version of the catalog, as provided on the NASA/GSFC Astronomical Data Center (ADC) cd-rom "Selected Astronomical Catalogs", Volume 1.
DATA: The HyperSky datafile contains the following data from the catalog:
POSITION: Right Ascension and Declination are based on the 1950 catalog values, precessed to equinox 2000.
MAG: the apparent magnitudes as provided in the catalog, which range from 12.9 to 23.4.
IDENTIFICATION: Designation in the IAU nomenclature system, consisting of the 1950 equinox hours and minutes of Right Ascension followed by decimal degrees of declination.
COMMENTS: The comment lines contain the following information, provided if available for each radio source identification:
* A line beginning with "ze=" giving the emission redshift. This may be followed on the same line by a string beginning with "za=" giving the absorption redshift.
* A subset of the available notes. Many notes using coded references were omitted; only self-contained comments were retained.
* A line containing the remark "BL Lac object" if the object is such.
* One or more lines starting with an "=" sign, giving the name of of the object in various catalogs. Most such names will have the general form "XXX nnn" where XXX is the catalog name abbreviation, and nnn is the catalog number or id. Some catalog references contain only a catalog name abbreviation (eg, "PKS"). The inference in such cases is that the catalog identification is identical to the IAU identification described above.