2dFGRS Final Data Release
Photometric Catalogues


These ASCII text catalogues are provided for the convenience of users of the 2dFGRS Final Data Release. However it is important to note that the mSQL database is the definitive data source, and contains all the information in the ASCII text catalogues and much additional data.

1. Input photometric catalogues (source catalogues)

The photometric catalogues (ngp.cat, sgp.cat and ran.cat for the NGP, SGP and random fields) have been derived from APM scans of the Southern Sky Survey (see Colless et al. 2001). The catalogues are highly complete down to their nominal limit at an extinction-corrected magnitude (BJSEL) of approximately bJ=19.45; this limit varies slightly from field to field, as described in detail by the survey masks.

All sources in the photometric catalogues have a unique serial number (serial=SEQNUM), running from 1 to 389713, which is the primary database key. There are 382323 sources in these catalogues; the 7390 missing serial numbers correspond to sources rejected as artifacts on the basis of visual examination of their images, as detailed in the description of the 2dFGRS database.

Each line of these catalogues contains the following parameters:

        Keyword    Format  Description
                        
        SEQNUM     I6      Assigned sequence number to this object; determines the
                           FITS filename (SEQNUM.fits)
        	          
        ra         A11     R.A. (B1950) in HH MM SS.SS
        	          
        dec        A11     Dec. (B1950) in DD MM SS.S
        	          
        BJSEL      F6.3    Final bj magnitude with extinction correction (i.e. 
                           with corrections for isophote, field-effects and
                           plate-matching, then calibrated to total mags with 
                           saturation correction, and then extinction corrected)
        	          
        PROB       F6.1    psi classification parameter:
        	             for eyeballed galaxies    
                               psi*1000 =  (10000 + abs(jon) + psi*100) 
                          	 for eyeballed non-galaxies 
                               psi*1000 = -(10000 + abs(jon) + psi*100)
        	          
        PARK       F5.3    k classification parameter = k / k_star
        	          
        PARMU      F5.3    mu classification parameter = mu / mu_star
        	          
        IGAL       I2      Final classification 
                             -4 = noise
                             -3 = star + star 
                             -2 = star + fuzz 
                             -1 = star
                              0 = galaxy + star merger
                              1 = galaxy
                              2 = galaxy + galaxy merger
        	          
        JON        I2      Eyeball classification, value > 0 only for galaxies 
                           brighter than about 18th mag:
                              0 = noise
                              1 = S0
                              2 = elliptical
                              3 = spiral
                              4 = irregular 
                              5 = undetermined galaxy
                              6 = star
                              7 = star + star merger 
                              8 = galaxy + star merger
                              9 = galaxy + galaxy merger
        	          
        ORIENT     F5.1    Orientation measured in degrees clockwise from E to W:
                             orient = 180/pi * atan(2*sxy/((sxx + syy)*(1 + e)-syy)) 
        	          
        ECCENT     F5.3    Eccentricity (e)
                             e*200 = 200*(((sxx-syy)**2 + 4sxy**2)**0.5)/(sxx + syy) 
        	          
        AREA       F6.0    Isophotal area in pixels 
        	          
        X_BJ       F8.1    Plate x_bj in 8 micron pixels 
        	          
        Y_BJ       F8.1    Plate y_bj in 8 micron pixels 
        	          
        DX         F5.0    Distortion corrected difference (x_bj - x_R)*100 
        	          
        DY         F5.0    Distortion corrected difference (y_bj - y_R)*100
        	          
        BJG        F6.3    Final bj magnitude without extinction correction 
        	          
        RMAG       F5.2    Unmatched APM 'total' mag 
        	          
        PMAG       F5.2    Unmatched raw APM profile integrated mag 
        	          
        FMAG       F5.2    Unmatched raw APM 2" profile integrated mag
        	          
        SMAG       F5.2    Unmatched raw stellar mag (from APMCAL)
        	          
        REDMAG     F5.2    Not used
        	          
        IFIELD     I3      UKST field
        	          
        IGFIELD    I6      Galaxy number in UKST field
        	          
        NAME       A10     2dFGRS assigned name; if either (i) BJSELOLD is fainter
                           than 19.45, or (ii) the object could not be allocated to
                           a fibre by the configuration algorithm, then NAME is blank
        	          
        BJG_OLD    F5.2    Original bj magnitude without extinction correction
                           (prior to re-calibration to BJG)
        	          
        BJSELOLD   F5.2    Original bj magnitude with extinction correction
                           (prior to re-calibration to BJSEL); used to select 
                           survey sample
        	          
        100_BJG    F5.2    100k release bj magnitude without extinction correction
                           (prior to re-calibration to BJG)
        	          
        100BJSEL   F5.2    100k release bj  magnitude with extinction correction
                           (prior to re-calibration to BJSEL)

Note that there are three pairs of APM bJ magnitudes in each file, the pairs being with and without the extinction correction. Each of these three pairs correspond to progressive refinements of the photometric calibrations. The original calibration used to select the 2dFGRS sample corresponds to BJG_OLD and BJSELOLD; the calibration used for the 100k release corresponds to 100_BJG and 100BJSEL; the final, and best, calibration corresponds to BJG and BJSEL. The latter are the magnitudes that should in general be used; the original magnitudes are useful in understanding the original selection of the sample; the 100k magnitudes are useful for comparing analyses based on the two data releases.

2. Deleted source lists

The objects deleted from the final source catalogues on the basis of visual inspection during a first pass at the time the catalogues were constructed are listed in deleted_pass1.cat. The objects deleted from the final source catalogues on the basis of visual inspection during a second pass based on a comparison of the APM and SuperCosmos source parameters are listed in deleted_pass2.cat. These files have the same format as the source catalogues. Details of the procedure are given in the description of the database. The objects in these lists are not in the final source catalogues.

3. Tile centres

The centres of all the 2dFGRS tiles are listed in centres.ngp, centres.sgp and centres.ran. These files list R.A. and Dec. (B1950, in decimal degrees), tile number, tile name, and R.A. and Dec. (B1950, in HH MM SS.SS -DD MM SS.S).



Matthew Colless, colless@mso.anu.edu.au,