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PKS: Parkes Radio Sources

Contents

Table name:      PKS
Records:         8263      
Version:	 1990
Spectral Band:   RADIO
Kind of Object:  Radio Sources
Mode:            Redshift 
PreView:      
Coordinates:     J2000

Reference

Description

Presently (February 1990) it consists of radio and optical data for over 8000 radio sources. It covers essentially all the sky south of declination +27 degrees but largely excludes the Galactic Plane and the Magellanic Cloud regions.

The original Parkes radio catalogue was compiled from major radio surveys with the Parkes radiotelescope at frequencies of 408 MHz and 2700 MHz. This work spanned a period of nearly 20 years and was undertaken largely by John Bolton and his colleagues. Since then, improved positions, optical identifications and redshifts have been obtained for many of the sources in the Catalogue. Furthermore, flux densities at several frequencies have supplemented the original surveys so that the measurements now cover the frequency range 80 --- 22000 MHz.

A most important contibution to the usefulness of the catalogue has been the data from the Molonglo 408 MHz survey. Unfortunately the flux data at the highest frequencies remain sparse. However a programme of measurements at 8400MHz is underway at Parkes which will help remedy this deficiency.

The original radio survey data of the Catalogue and the optical identifications have been published in a series of papers in the Australian Journal of Physics. The associated optical spectral data on which redshifts were obtained has also been published, mainly in the Astrophysical Journal and Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Fields

  
Name          Type    Meaning                                              
  
bname          c10    Old PKS designation (based on B1950 position)        
jname          c10    New PKS designation (based on J2000 position)        
name           c7     Other name                                           
type           c4     Source classification (see below)                    
mag             F     Magnitude (for sources with optical counterpart)     
 
r_a             I     J2000 Right Ascension                                
dec             I     J2000 Declination                                    
e_pos           F     Positional accuracy in arcsec (to be read as "better 
                      than")                                               
 
z               F     Redshift                                             
when            I     Date (seconds  since  1980)  for  which  an  optical 
                      spectrum was obtained, but a definite redshift could 
                      not be determined                                    
survey          I     Code for survey in which source was found            
 
f1              F     Flux (Jy) at 80 MHz                                  
f2              F     Flux (Jy) at 178 MHz                                 
f3              F     Flux (Jy) at 408 MHz                                 
f4              F     Flux (Jy) at 635 MHz                                 
f5              F     Flux (Jy) at 1410 MHz                                
f6              F     Flux (Jy) at 2.7 GHz                                 
f7              F     Flux (Jy) at 5.0 GHz                                 
f8              F     Flux (Jy) at 8.4 GHz                                 
f9              F     Flux (Jy) at 22 GHz                                  
 
Derived Values                                
  
_ra             F     B1950 Right Ascension (epoch + equinox B1950)        
_de             F     B1950 Declination                                    
_lii            F     Galactic Longitude                                   
_bii            F     Galactic Latitude                                    
_L              F     SuperGalactic Longitude                              
_B              F     SuperGalactic Latitude

TYPE

The 4-letter code type describes the related sources (a ? following any code specifies that that property in uncertain). 
  Code  Identified Sources                                                 
 
  BLC   BL Lac object                                                      
  D     Diffuse galaxy, bright galaxies in clusters                        
  DB    Double Galaxy                                                      
  E     Elliptical Galaxy (3 for ellipticity of 3)                         
  G     Galaxy too faint to classify                                       
  HII   HII region                                                         
  IRR   Irregular object (galaxy ? )                                       
  N     N galaxy, bright cored galaxy                                      
  PN    Planetary Nebula                                                   
  Q     Confirmed quasi-stellar object or Quasar                           
  QC    Quasar with a continuous optical spectrum (similar to BLC)         
  S     Spiral Galaxy                                                      
  SB    Barred Spiral Galaxy                                               
  SC    Spiral Galaxy (Sc)                                                 
  SNR   Supernova Remnant                                                  
  S0    Spiral galaxy with ellitpicity of zero (nearly circular)           
  IIIS  Stellar  object of  neutral colour  in good  positional agreement  
        with the radio source                                              
  
  Code  Unidentified Sources                                               
 
  II    one or more galaxies in the area covered by the position error of  
        the source, but no identification claimed                          
  III   blank  field: one or more stars of normal colour in the error box  
  IIIA  blank field: obscured by absoption                                 
  IIIB  blank field: no absoption apparent                                 
  IIIC  blank field: crowded star field                                    
  IV 1  blank field: heavily obscured