7548(  1) - 12/14/96 01:03  - [  0]

    PROPOSAL FOR HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS   ST ScI Use Only
                                                       ID:      7548
                                                       Version: 1
                                                       Check-in Date: 13-Dec-1996
                                                                      18:22:34

1.Proposal Title:
HST WFPC2 Observations of MilliJansky Radio Sources from the FIRST Survey
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2. Scientific Category   3. Proposal For  4. Cycle
AGN/QUASARS                 AR               7
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5. Investigators
                                                                                     Contact?
    PI: Richard L. White                  Space Telescope Science Institute
   CoI: Robert H. Becker                  University of California-Davis                N
   CoI: Richard McMahon                   Cambridge University                          N

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6. Abstract

The VLA FIRST survey will cover 10,000 square degrees of the North and South
Galactic Caps at 1.4 GHz to a peak flux density limit of 1 mJy with an angular
resolution of 5"\ and source positions better than 1"\ down to the catalog detection
limit. Data taken through the end of 1995 have been fully reduced and cover 3000
square degrees of sky; data being taken from January to April 1997 will extend this
coverage to 5000 square degrees by the early part of HST Cycle 7. The source catalog
from this area will contain about 450,000 objects. The median optical brightness of
mJy radio galaxies is V ~ 23.5. The number of magnitude 23.5 galaxies per square
degree is large (~ 2.5*10^4\ hboxdeg^-2), so that our positions of <1" accuracy are
required to identify the optical counterparts with confidence. The FIRST survey has
been designed to be the first large area radio survey with positions accurate enough
to identify and study the faint optical counterparts for the majority of the
sources. Of course, these galaxies are not only faint; they are also of small
angular size and often have point-like, active nuclei. Only HST has the angular
resolution required to study the morphology and evolution of these objects. We
propose to study the optical characteristics of a large sample of faint radio
galaxies by analyzing all the publically available WFPC2 images in the HST Data
Archive that contain cataloged FIRST sources.
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  Data Distribution

  Media:           ELECTRONIC
  Blocking Factor: 10
  Ship To:         PI_Address
  Ship Via:
  Email:                                                              ,
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                                                7548(  1) - 12/14/96 01:03  - [  1]

            Summary Form for Proposal  7548

  Item                         Used in this proposal
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  Proposal Category            AR
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  Scientific Category          AGN/QUASARS
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