A complete sample of extragalactic radio sources at 1 Jy at 408 MHz – II. The optical observations

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Abstract
This is the second paper in a series investigating the properties of a complete sample of 59 B2 radio sources with flux densities between 1 and 2 Jy at 408 MHz. Here we present the results of a deep optical survey of the fields of 47 of these sources which are unidentified or have faint identifications on the National Geographic–Palomar Sky Survey (PSS). The observations were made with the Hale 5-m telescope using a charge-coupled device (CCD) detector and reach a limiting magnitude of |${m}_\text{r}\,\sim\,23$|⁠. The proportion of the sample with identifications brighter than mr = 23 is estimated to be ~ 80 per cent. The apparent magnitude distribution of galaxies peaks between 19 and 20 mag, while the distribution of QSOs ( ~ 24 per cent of the total) reaches a maximum between 20 and 21 mag. Some of the faintest identifications are possibly close associations of galaxies in the cores of distant clusters. The giant ‘classical double’ 0854 + 39 is the best example of this type.

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