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S.F. Anderson (UWa), W. Voges (MPE), B. Margon (STScI), J. Trümper, Th. Boller (MPE), M.A. Agüeros, L. Homer, G. Stinson (UWa), J. Annis (FNAL), M.J. Collinge, G.T. Richards, M.A. Strauss (Prin), P.L. Gomez, R.C. Nichol (CMU), D.P. Schneider (PSU), D.E. Vanden Berk (Pitt)
Many problems in X-ray astronomy are limited by the relatively small number of objects in uniform optically-identified and observed samples, especially when rare subclasses are considered, or subsets are isolated to search for evolution or correlations between wavebands. We describe initial results of a new program aimed to ultimately yield ~104 fully characterized X-ray source identifications---a sample about an order of magnitude larger than earlier efforts. The technique is detailed, and employs X-ray data from the ROSAT All Sky Survey (RASS), and optical imaging and spectroscopic followup from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS); these two surveys prove to be serendipitously very-well matched in sensitivity. Optical objects in the SDSS photometric catalogs are positionally cross-correlated with RASS X-ray sources. Priorities for follow-on SDSS optical spectra of candidate counterparts are automatically assigned, using an algorithm based on the known ratios of fx/fopt for various classes of X-ray emitters at typical RASS flux limits, and with SDSS photometric parameters for optical morphology, magnitude, colors, plus FIRST radio information, serving as proxies for object class.
Early SDSS data from 1400~deg2 of sky already provide a
catalog of 1200 spectroscopically confirmed quasars and
other AGN that are probable RASS identifications. The
magnitude and redshift range of the counterparts is very
broad, extending over 15
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.