
                The VCV Optical Catalog  
               Eric Flesch, 7 February 2015

================================================================================

MILLIQUAS uses the Véron-Cetty & Véron Quasar Catalog (VCV: 2010,A&A,518,10) as the authority for pre-2010 quasars; 
however, these needed to be converted to long names and their astrometry shifted to their true optical positions. 
In the process some of the VCV entries were found to be stars or galaxies, or duplicates, or not to exist. 

VCV stated that their catalog contains 133336 quasars, 1374 BL Lacs, 16517 Seyfert 1s, and 17714 "active galaxies"
which consist of 6025 type 2s, 907 LINERs, 167 starburst galaxies, and 10615 objects without subclass which are 
just quasars which fell across VCV's separator of Mb=-22.25 for which VCV states "should be called S1s" -- these
can be added into the count of quasars to a total of 143951 quasars.  However, VCV counted the minor classifications 
from their table 3 (AGN) only, and should also have counted them from table 1 (QSOs).  Doing so yields a revised VCV
count of 140494 quasars, 1374 BL Lacs, 19777 Seyfert 1s, 6203 type 2s, 926 LINERs, and 167 starburst galaxies.  The 
processing of these 168941 objects into Milliquas reveals 142336 type 1 quasars, 13986 type 1 AGN (extended or faint 
luminosity or Seyferts), 1142 Bl Lacs, 4662 type 2s, 747 LINERs, 5024 galaxies, 267 stars, 667 objects of unknown 
classification, 61 duplicates of other VCV objects, and 49 entries which don't exist at all.  
 
The 5024 galaxies and 267 stars largely come from SDSS reclassifications, including SDSS-DR8 re-processing of the 
spectra via an improved algorithm, and by the SDSSqDR12 and earlier manual releases (see list of references below for 
the citations) which visually inspected the spectra.  The 667 "unknown" objects are from SDSS-DR7 and some papers in
which the original authors (OA) stated an "unknown" or "questionable" classification -- VCV were a bit optimistic in 
their inclusions sometimes.  My paper "Optical Correction to the Véron-Cetty & Véron Quasar Catalog" (Flesch E.,2013,
PASA,30,4) gives examples and describes the technique of finding the optical positions for the difficult objects.  

The optical mapping of the VCV catalog is available here as 4 files equating to the four original VCV files (table1 = 
VCV QSOs, table2 = VCV Bl Lac types, table3 = VCV AGN (Seyfert-like), table4 = VCV rejects, not included in above 
counts).  Each table corresponds row by row to the orignal VCV tables, and have a layout of the following schema:

Byte-by-byte Description of the Optical VCV tables:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Bytes Format Units   Label     Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1-  2  I2    h       vRAh      VCV Right Ascension J2000 (hours)  
   3-  4  I2    min     vRAm      VCV Right Ascension J2000 (minutes)
   5-  8  F4.1  s       vRAs      VCV Right Ascension J2000 (seconds)
       9  A1    ---     vDE-      VCV Declination J2000 (sign)
  10- 11  I2    deg     vDEd      VCV Declination J2000 (degrees)  
  12- 13  I2    arcmin  vDEm      VCV Declination J2000 (minutes)
  14- 15  I2    arcsec  vDEs      VCV Declination J2000 (seconds)
  18- 35  A18   ---     vname     VCV object name, their column 2
      38  A1    ---     xflag     VCV positional flag (1)
  40- 45  F6.3  z       vz        VCV redshift 
  48- 51  A4    ---     spec      VCV subclass, their column 17
      53  A1    ---     color     VCV colour of magnitude, their column 18
  54- 57  F4.1  mag     Vmag      VCV magnitude, their column 19 
  60- 63  I4    ---     Vref      VCV reference # (2) 
  66- 67  I2    h       RAh       optical Right Ascension J2000 (hours)  
  68- 69  I2    min     RAm       optical Right Ascension J2000 (minutes)
  70- 73  F4.1  s       RAs       optical Right Ascension J2000 (seconds)
      74  A1    ---     DE-       optical Declination J2000 (sign)
  75- 76  I2    deg     DEd       optical Declination J2000 (degrees)  
  77- 78  I2    arcmin  DEm       optical Declination J2000 (minutes)
  79- 80  I2    arcsec  DEs       optical Declination J2000 (seconds)
  83-107  A25   ---     name      optical object name
     110  A1    ---     name      optical object classification (3)
 112-117  F6.3  z       z         optical object redshift
 120-123  F4.1  mag     Rmag      red optical magnitude 
 126-129  F4.1  mag     Bmag      blue optical magnitude 
 132-134  A3    ---     opt       comment on optical object (4)
     136  A1    ---     R         red optical PSF class (5)
     138  A1    ---     B         blue optical PSF class (5)
 141-148  A8    ---     cat       citation reference for name (6)
 150-157  A8    ---     zcat      citation reference for redshift (6)
 159-164  I6    arcsec  offset    offset from VCV position to optical position (in arcsec)
 166-221  A56   ---     comment   comment on the mapping from the VCV to the optical (7)    

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Note (1): VCV flags are
     O = optically seen at the VCV position by VCV, although this is not 100% reliable.
     R = radio position 
     A = approximate position, either the centre or the west equatorial corner of a B1950 tile of sky.

Note (2): this is the VCV finding chart reference (their column 23) if given, else it is their 
     redshift reference (column 25) if given, else their photometry reference (column 24).

Note (3): Q=QSO, A=AGN (Seyfert-like), B=BlLac type, K=type II object (narrow line), 
     G=galaxy, H=starburst zone, M=galaxy group, N=NELG (narrow emission line galaxy),
     S=star, W=white dwarf star, C=cataclysmic variable star, U=unknown type stated by citation, 
     D=unlikely as stated by citation or see the comment field, Z=does not exist, see comment field.
     If classification changed without a citation or comment, see original paper for classification.

Note (4): Legend:
     p = optical magnitudes are POSS-I O (violet 4100A) and E (red 6500A).  
         These are preferred because O is well-offset from E, and these plates 
         were always taken on the same night, thus the red-blue color is 
         correct even for variable objects.
     j = blue magnitude is SERC J (Bj 4800A blue-green) from the POSS-II or
         UKST surveys.  Red-blue color is less reliable because the plates were 
         taken in different epochs, i.e. years apart. 
     g = blue magnitude is SDSS green 4900A.
     u = blue magnitude is SDSS ultraviolet 3850A.
     b = blue magnitude is Vega 4400A.
     v = red magnitude is visual, ie, white, 5500A midpoint.
     i = red magnitude is infrared 8000A.  
     z = red magnitude is infrared z 10000A.  
     k = red magnitude is infrared k 20000A.  
     (not v/i/z/k) = standard red color 6500A.
     + = variability nominally* detected for both red & blue.
     m = proper motion nominally* detected. 
     a = object is an SDSS galaxy with AGN subclass.  If also BROADLINE, then  
         it is classed as 'A', otherwise as 'K' (see note 3).
     ? = identification uncertain (quasar may be located elsewhere).
       (*from USNO-B or Flesch & Hardcastle,2004,A&A,427,387, section A.1 end)

Note (5): The APM, USNO-B, and SDSS provide PSF class, albeit using different 
     criteria. These are shown here as:
     - = point source / stellar PSF (APM notation: -1, here truncated)
     1 = fuzzy / galaxy shape       (APM notation: 1 and some 2)
     n = no PSF available, whether borderline or too faint to tell, etc.
     x = not seen in this color (fainter than plate depth, or confused, etc.)

Note (6): If no reference is displayed, then the original VCV citation is unchanged.
     The legend of the citation references:  

     2LAC      Ackermann M.,Ajello M.,Allafort A. et al, 2011, ApJ 743,171                                                             
     2MRS      Huchra J.P.,Macri L.M.,Masters K.L. et al, 2012, ApJS 199,26,(http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/2mrs/)                         
     2QZ       Croom S.M.,Smith R.J.,Boyle B.J. et al, 2004, MNRAS 349,1397,(2QZ/6QZ)                                                  
     2SLAQ     Croom S.M.,Richards G.T.,Shanks T. et al, 2009, MNRAS 392,19,(2SLAQ)                                                    
     2dF       Colless M.,Dalton G.,Maddox S. et al, 2001, MNRAS 328,1039,(2dF GRS)                                                    
     6QZ       Croom S.M.,Smith R.J.,Boyle B.J. et al, 2004, MNRAS 349,1397,(2QZ/6QZ)                                                  
     6dF       Jones D.H.,Read M.A.,Saunders W. et al, 2009, MNRAS 399,683,(6dF Galaxy Survey)                                         
     ATLAS     Mao M.Y.,Sharp R.,Norris R.P. et al, 2012, MNRAS 426,3334                                                               
     AVS1993   Amirkhanyan V.R.,Vlasyuk V.V.,Spiridonova O.I., 1993, ARep 37,466                                                       
     BG        Gaston B., 1983, ApJ 272,411                                                                                            
     BZCAT     Massaro E.,Giommi P.,Leto C. et al, 2009, A&A 495,691,(BZCAT v4.1.1 (2012) http://www.asdc.asi.it/bzcat)                
     CBINARY   Green P.J.,Myers A.D.,Barkhouse W.A. et al, 2011, ApJ 743,81,(Chandra binaries)                                         
     CLASSBLL  March M.J.M.,Caccianiga A., 2013, MNRAS 430,2464,(CLASS Bl Lacs)                                                        
     CQ        Fynbo J.P.U.,Krogager J.-K.,Venemans B. et al, 2013, ApJS 204,6,(Red QSOs)                                              
     CfA       Huchra J.P.,Vogeley M.S.,Geller M.J., 1999, ApJS 121,287,(http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~huchra/zcat)                      
     ChaMP     Trichas M.,Green P.J.,Silverman J.D. et al, 2012, ApJS 200,17,(ChaMP AGN)                                               
     DEEP      Newman J.A.,Cooper M.C.,Davis M. et al, 2013, ApJS 208,5,(DEEP2 Redshifts http://deep.ps.uci.edu/DR4/home.html)         
     DPeaked   Ge J.-Q.,Hu C.,Wang J.-M.,Bai J.-M.,Zhang S., 2012, ApJS 201,31,(Double-Peaked NELGs)                                   
     ECDFS     Bonzini M.,Mainieri V.,Padovani P. et al, 2012, ApJS 203,15,(E-CDFS radio)                                              
     F2MASS    Glikman E.,Urrutia T.,Lacy M. et al, 2012, ApJ 757,51,(FIRST-2MASS red quasars)                                         
     GRBLLACS  Shaw M.S.,Romani R.W.,Cotter G. et al, 2013, ApJ 764,135,(Gamma-ray Bl Lacs)                                            
     GSOUTH    Villforth C.,Sarajedini V.,Koekemoer A., 2012, MNRAS 426,360,(GOODS-SOUTH)                                              
     HB89      Hewitt A.,Burbidge G., 1989, ApJS 69,1,(HB quasar catalog)                                                              
     HD        Nesterov V.V.,Kuzmin A.V.,Ashimbaeva N.T. et al, 1995, A&AS 110,367,(Harvey Draper Ext)                                 
     IBIS      Malizia A.,Bassani L.,Bazzano A. et al, 2012, MNRAS 426,1750,(INTEGRAL/IBIS AGN)                                        
     ICRFSH    Titov O.,Jauncey D.L.,Johnston H.M. et al, 2011, AJ 142,165,(ICRF South)                                                
     IN        Inada N.,Oguri M.,Morokuma T. et al, 2006, ApJ 653,97,(SDSS doubles)                                                    
     LCorredo  Lopez-Corredoira M.,Gutierrez C.M.,Mohan V.,Gunthardt G.I.,Alonso M.S., 2008, A&A 480,61                                
     MASIV     Pursimo T.,Ojha R.,Jauncey D.L. et al, 2013, ApJ 767,14,(MASIV)                                                         
     MBOSSMMT  Palanque-Delabrouille N.,Magneville Ch.,Yeche Ch. et al, 2013, A&A 551,29,(MMT-BOSS)                                    
     MGELLAN   Kozlowski S.,Onken C.A.,Kochanek C.S. et al, 2013, ApJ 775,92,(Magellanic Quasars)                                      
     MQ        Flesch E.W., 2014, MILLIQUAS, http://quasars.org/milliquas.htm                                                                             
     NED       Schmidt M. et al, 2014, NED,(NED http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu)                                                           
     NPM1      Klemola A.R.,Hanson R.B.,Jones B.F., 1994, yCat 1200,(NPM1)                                                             
     OH        Osmer P.S.,Hewett P.C., 1991, ApJS 75,273                                                                               
     PGC       Paturel G.,Petit C.,Prugniel Ph. et al, 2003, A&A 412,45,(Principal Galaxy Catalogue)                                   
     SDSS-DR1  Abazajian K.N.,Adelman-McCarthy J.K.,Agueros M.A. et al, 2003, AJ 126,2081,(SDSS DR1)                                   
     SDSS-DR4  Adelman-McCarthy J.K.,Agueros M.A.,Allam S.S. et al, 2006, ApJS 162,38,(SDSS DR4)                                       
     SDSS-DR5  Adelman-McCarthy J.K.,Agueros M.A.,Allam S.S. et al, 2007, ApJS 172,634,(SDSS DR5)                                      
     SDSS-DR6  Adelman-McCarthy J.K.,Agueros M.A.,Allam S.S. et al, 2008, ApJS 175,297,(SDSS DR6)                                      
     SDSS-DR7  Abazajian K.N.,Adelman-McCarthy J.K.,Agueros M.A et al, 2009, ApJS 182,543,(SDSS DR7)                                   
     SDSS-DR8  Aihara H.,Allende Prieto C.,An D. et al, 2011, ApJS 193,29,(SDSS DR8)                                                   
     SDSS-DR9  Ahn C.P.,Alexandroff R.,Allende Prieto C. et al, 2012, ApJS 203,21,(SDSS DR9 http://sdss3.org/dr9)                      
     SDSS-DRA  Ahn C.P.,Alexandroff R.,Allende Prieto C. et al, 2014, ApJS 211,17,(SDSS DR10 http://sdss3.org/dr10)                    
     SDSS-DRC  Alam S.,Albareti F.D.,Allende Prieto C. et al, 2015,ArXiv,1501,963,(SDSS DR12 http://sdss.org/dr12) 
     SDSSqDR5  Schneider D.P.,Hall P.B.,Richards G.T. et al, 2007, AJ 134,102,(SDSS DR5Q manual)                                       
     SDSSqDR7  Schneider D.P.,Richards G.T.,Hall P.B. et al, 2010, AJ 139,2360,(SDSS DR7Q manual)                                      
     SDSSqDR9  Paris I.,Petitjean P.,Aubourg E. et al, 2012, A&A 548,66,(SDSS DR9Q manual)                                             
     SDSSqDRA  Paris I.,Petitjean P.,Aubourg E. et al, 2014, A&A 563,54,(SDSS DR10Q manual)                                            
     SDSSqDRC  Paris I. et al, 2015, in preparation, http://www.sdss.org/dr12,(SDSS DR12Q manual)                                            
     SQLS      Inada N.,Oguri M.,Shin M.-S. et al, 2012, AJ 143,119,(SDSS Lens Search)                                                 
     SVIRE     Lacy M.,Ridgway S.E.,Gates E.L. et al, 2013, ApJS 208,24,(Spitzer mid-IR survey)                                        
     SWIRE     Rowan-Robinson M.,Gonzalez-Solares E.,Vaccari M.,Marchetti L., 2013, MNRAS 428,1958,(SWIRE)                             
     SXMMDEEP  Hiroi K.,Ueda Y.,Masayuki A.,Watson M.G., 2012, ApJ 758,49,(Subaru-XMM Deep)                                            
     TBOPS     Afanasjev V.L.,Karachentsev I.D.,Lipovetski V.A.,Lorenz H., 1979, AN 300,77,(Tautenburg Objective Prism Survey)         
     UGC       Cotton W.D.,Condon J.J., 1999, ApJS 125,409,(UGC Galaxies)                                                              
     VLT-LBG   Crighton N.H.M.,Bielby R.,Shanks T. et al, 2011, MNRAS 414,28                                                           
     W7        Kleinman S.J.,Kepler S.O.,Koester D. et al, 2013, ApJS 204,5,(SDSS DR7 WDs)                                             
     W8superb  Limoges M.,Lepine S.,Bergeron P., 2013, AJ 145,136,(WDs within 40pc)                                                    
     WD        McCook G.P.,Sion E.M., 1999, ApJS 121,1,(White Dwarfs)                                                                  
     WEE       Weedman D.W., 1985, ApJS 57,523                                                                                         
     XBSS      Caccianiga A.,Severgnini P.,Della Ceca R. et al, 2008, A&A 477,735,(XBSS)                                               
     XCOSMOS   Brusa M.,Civano F.,Comastri A. et al, 2010, ApJ 716,348,(http://www2011.mpe.mpg.de/XMMCosmos/xmm53_release)             
     XLSS      Stalin C.S.,Petitjean P.,Srianand R. et al, 2010, MNRAS 401,294,(XMM-LSS sources)                                       
     XMSS      Barcons X.,Carrera F.J.,Ceballos M.T. et al, 2007, A&A 476,1191,(XMSS)                                                  
     XWAS      Esquej P.,Page M.,Carrera F.J. et al, 2013, A&A 557,123,(XWAS)                                                          
     Zwicky    Falco E.E.,Kurtz M.J.,Geller M.J. et al, 1999, PASP 111,438,(the Updated Zwicky Catalog)  

Note (7):  Comment is meant to be a simple statement.  Glossary of less clear terminology:
     "OA" = "original authors" which can differ from VCV in their classification or astrometry. 
     "OA stated ELG" = original authors said this was an emission line galaxy, not a QSO.
     "paper" means that this object was treated in my paper 2013,PASA,30,4. 
     "asteroid" means a 3-colour strobe object which SDSS documents as showing a moving asteroid.
     "dropped by dr8" = SDSS DR8 rejected a DR7 quasar due to re-inspection of the spectrum.
     "duplicate of" or "dup to" -- gives a name which is the VCV object name of the matching row.
     "dup to same name" -- this VCV object name is identical to the optical name in the matching row.
     "not seen" -- blank sky at this location, object not found elsewhere -- vaporQSO. 
