A 98% spectroscopically complete sample of the most powerful equatorial radio sources at 408 MHz

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  • 31 March 1999
Abstract
A new sample of very powerful radio galaxies is defined from the Molonglo Reference Catalogue, according to the criteria S (408 MHz) > 5 Jy, -30 < Dec < 10 degrees, |b| > 10 degrees. The sample is selected to have similar properties to the northern 3CR revised sample, and to be visible to a combination of existing northern telescopes such as the Very Large Array radio interferometer and the new 8-m class southern hemisphere telescopes. The sample contains 178 sources, of which spectroscopic redshifts are available in the literature for 128. For the remaining 50 sources, new radio imaging, optical imaging and spectroscopic observations are presented to identify the host galaxies and determine their redshifts. With these new observations the total sample is 100% optically identified and redshifts are available for 174 (98%) of the sources. The sample consists of one starburst galaxy, one Seyfert galaxy, 126 radio galaxies and 50 quasars. Basic properties of the sample, such as the redshift distributions of the quasar and radio galaxy populations, show no significant differences from the revised 3CR sample. The equatorial location and the high spectroscopic completeness of this sample make it a valuable resource for detailed studies of the nature and environments of these important objects with the new generation of southern hemisphere telescopes.

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