Tales of Cataloguing III -- duplicate quasars

Following are a list of 21 duplicates found in the Veron catalog.
Where these objects also appear in NED, I add the NED name. May I
preface by saying that the Veron catalog is a tremendous resource, and
the Verons did a fantastic job. If there were a few slips of the
fingers in the course of producing a 130,000-object quasar catalog,
well, they were jolly well entitled. I've loosely sub-categorized
these by whether the duplicates are long-established, or recently
created by SDSS re-surveying of old objects.

Section A: 13 contemporary duplicate quasars

These are long-standing doppelgangers of the same quasars, due to
imprecise or erroneous co-ordinates. In each case one entry is found
to be right and the other wrong.

1) Q 0450-132 (J045218.9-130503 v=17.5 z=2.253, NED name:[HB93a]
0450-132) does not exist, and is a duplicate of H 0450-1310
(J045313.6-130555 v=17.4 z=2.250) at a distance of 788 arcsec. The
earlier 0450-132 (1988) was given an approximate position of
B045000.0-131000 (ie, J045218.9-130503), and when subsequently (2004)
surveyed more precisely, the linkage was not made. (X-ray XMMX
J045313.5-130554) Back in B1950 days, it was obvious that the B1950
position was approximate, but conversion to J2000 has imbued such
co-ordinates with a false precision which cloaks the original intent.
This theme often repeats below.

2) Q 1211-1056 (J121346.0-111314 v=19.0 z=1.626, NED:[VCV96] Q
1211-1056) does not exist, and is a duplicate of TEX 1212-109
(J121446.0-111313 v=19.4 z=1.626, NED:PMN J1214-1113). The offset is
exactly 1 RA time-minute, indicating an error in transcription. Note
that the correct name of this object is Q 1212-1056 as given by the
discoverers Osmer & Hewett, 1991-ApJS-75-273, table 3A #58, and thus
written that way into the Million Quasars catalog. (radio NVSS
J121446.0-111313)

3) 1H 0150-535 (J015223.6-532034 v=18.5 z=1.560) does not exist, and
is a duplicate of H 0147-537 (J014852.8-532829 v=17.4 z=1.568,
NED:LASS 0150-535) at a distance of 1944 arcsec. Remillard et al,
1993-AJ-105-2079 reported these as the same object (table 1, top row),
but the cataloguers seem not to have noticed. NED uses a variant of
the old name for the true object.

4) TEX 0121+035 (J012435.3+034731 v=19.6 z=0.221) does not exist, and
is a duplicate of MS 01200+0328 (J012236.8+034356 v=18.2 z=0.221,
NED:[HB89] 0122+035 NED01) at a distance of 1787 arcsec. The problem
is that TEX 0121+035 was erroneously given the co-ordinates of the
nearby galaxy NGC 520. Note however that this object's correct name
is NGC 520.46, as given by the discoverer Halton Arp in
1985-PASP-97-1149 which displayed a finding chart. This original name
has been written into the Million Quasars catalog. (X-ray 2RXP
J012236.6+034349)

5) BR 0035-25 (J003758.7-251331 r=18.9 z=4.15, NED:[VCV96] BR 0035-25)
does not exist. It has an approximate B1950 position,
B003530.0-253000 ( = J003758.7-251331). Author Mike Irwin advises
that it is duplicate to BRI J0048-2442 (J004834.5-244205 r=19.0
z=4.15), with a typo causing the false separation from the early
approximate B1950 name of 0045-25.

6) SDSS J0112+0053 (J011230.0+005329 v=20.2 z=4.566) does not exist,
and is a duplicate of SDSSp J11228+0053 (J112253.5+005329 v=21.8
z=4.560, NED:SDSS J112253.49+005329.8) at a distance of 10 time-hours.
Oops, wrong end of the sky! It appears that the Verons got tripped up
by their truncated notation, and interpreted "11228" as "011228".
This object is SDSS J112253.50+005329.7, in the DR7 quasar catalog
with z=4.551.

7) SDSSp J1517+0101 (J151730.0+010130 v=19.2 z=2.004) does not exist,
and is a duplicate of SDSS J15171+0101 (J151707.6+010112 v=19.3
z=2.007, NED:SDSS J151707.62+010112.2) at a distance of 336 arcsec.
The bogus object was taken from Richards et al, 2001-AJ-121-2308 which
described preliminary SDSS work and gave no positions -- apparently
the Verons "data-mined" the name "SDSSp J1517+0101", using the B1950
tile method to derive a position at the centre of the J2000 tile
1517+0101, ergo, J151730.0+010130. This "object" was not subsequently
re-visited and so was orphaned when the true object appeared later.

8) Q 0128-367 (J013041.8-363133 v=17.4 z=2.169, NED:[HB89] 0128-367)
does not exist, and is offset 3463 arcsec from the true object Q
0123-3648 (J012554.5-363235 v=18.1 z=2.164, NED:[HB89] 0123-368).
Cause: "0128-3647" was published in 1993-ApJS-88-357, but it would
appear that the true notation was "0123-3647", but the original
handwritten 0123 was read as 0128.

9) SDSS J03464+0037 (J034629.0+003700 v=19.1 z=2.770, no NED) does not
exist, and is offset 803 arcsec from the true object SDSS J03464+0023
(v=19.7 z=2.770, NED:SDSS J034629.01+002337.6). Cause: Looks like a
Veron truncation error, as the full declination is "002337", and the
true truncation is "0023" and the false one was "0037", so it looks
like the wrong pair of digits were taken.

10) SDSS J07464+2449 (J074625.8+244901 v=15.5 z=2.979, no NED) does
not exist, and is offset by one degree N/S from the true object SDSS
J07464+2549 (J074625.8+254901 v=19.7 z=2.979, NED:B2 0743+25). Cause:
Veron truncation error, declination of 2549 was written as 2449. The
original name "B2 0743+25" is recorded in the Million Quasars catalog.


11) FIRST J09510+2210 (J091203.8+221051 v=17.6 z=0.220, no NED) does
not exist. NED has the true object as FBQS J095159.9+220906 (v=17.3
z=0.220). The physical offset is over 9 degrees, even though the
RA-based offset of the names is just 10 time-minutes, ie, 2½ degrees.
This is because the bogus object is not only named badly, it's placed
wrongly for its name. Cause: gremlins/grandchildren in the
laboratory? Chaos left its signature on this one object.

12) SDSS J10479+0739 appears twice in the Veron catalog. The correct
line shows the object SDSS J104755.92+073951.2 v=19.8 z=0.168. The
incorrect line apparently was meant to be named "10469+0739" as it
shows J104656.0+073952 v=19.3 z=0.168, which however does not exist.
Cause: looks like a working line which was meant to be deleted, but
was not.

13) RX J14462+2541 (J144615.5+254143 v=17.3 z=0.188, no NED) does not
exist, and is offset by 2 time hours (30 degrees E/W) from the true
object SDSS J16462+2541 (J164615.6+254143 v=19.5 z=0.189, no NED).
This is an AGN-galaxy of integrated v=17.0, SDSS J164615.54+254143.1
having X-ray 1RXS J164616.0+254129. Cause: the object is from
Veron-Cetty et al, 2004-A&A-414-487 table 4, where it is recorded at
J164615.52+254143.3, but when entered into the Veron catalog, the
second digit of the RX name was erroneously written as 4 instead of 6.


Section B: 8 SDSS-orphaned objects

The following 8 quasars are old B1950 objects with approximate
co-ordinates, whether tiles-of-sky or arcminute precision, which were
recently orphaned when SDSS re-surveyed them at precise co-ordinates,
and the connection was not made that they are the same object. In
each case I have written the old original name onto the updated object
in the Million Quasars catalog.

1) Q 0837+109 (J083943.6+104321 z=3.326 NED:[HB89] 0837+100) is the
same object as SDSS J08402+1034 (v=18.5 z=3.331, NED:SDSS
J084017.88+103428.9) at a distance of 734 arcsec. The earlier
location was just the corner of the B1950 tile of sky 0837+109, thus
B083700.0+105400 = SDSS J084017.87+103428.8, a DR7 quasar.

2) LB 8814 (J085314.5+184737 v=18.6 z=0.183 NED:[HB89] 0850+189) is
the same object as SDSS J08533+1847 (v=19.0 z=0.182 NED:SDSS
J085322.44+184713.9) at a distance of 115 arcsec. The earlier
object's co-ordinates were in B1950 arcminutes. I have restored the
original name "LB 8814" into the Million Quasars catalog.

3) PSS J1118+3702 (J111856.2+370200 v=18.8 z=4.030, no NED) is the
same object as SDSS J11189+3702 (v=20.3 z=4.025 NED:SDSS
J111856.15+370255.9) at a distance of 1 arcminute N/S.

4) Q 1510+115 (J151223.8+111847 v=. z=2.106, NED:[HB93a] 1510+115) is
the same object as SDSS J15128+1119 (v=17.8 z=2.110, NED:SDSS
J151249.29+111929.3) at a distance of 378 arcsec. The old object had
the approximate co-ords B151000.0+113000.

5) Q 1511+091 (J151325.9+085450 v=. z=2.878, NED:[HB93a] 1511+091) is
the same object as SDSS J15138+0855 (v=17.8 z=2.904, NED:SDSS
J151352.52+085555.7) at a distance of 400 arcsec. The old object had
the approximate co-ords B151100.0+090600.

6) Q 1159+01 (J120133.8+004318 v=. z=3.269, NED:[VCV96] Q 1159+01) is
the same object as SDSS J12017+0116 (v=17.7 z=3.233, NED:SDSS
J120144.36+011611.5) at a distance of 1979 arcsec. The old object had
the approximate co-ords B115900.0+010000.

7) NGC 5866#1 (J150628.4+554530 v=18.1 z=0.706, NED:[HB89] 1505+559)
is the same object as SDSS J15057+5549 (v=18.4 z=0.709, NED:SDSS
J150543.86+554935.9) at a distance of 449 arcsec. The old object had
the approximate co-ords B150506.0+555700. This is a Halton Arp
quasar, now also SDSS J150543.89+554936.1, a DR7 quasar.

8) Q 1159+00 (J120203.8+001318 v=. z=2.586, no NED) is the same object
as Q120220.06+002242.1 (v=17.4, z=2.580, VLT-LBG Crighton N. et al,
2011-MNRAS-414-28) at a distance of 615 arcsec. The old object had
the approximate co-ords B115930.0+003000. This VLT-LBG survey is
post-Veron but I include it here for completeness.


Next up: Far-Flungers, a.k.a., You thought that quasar was *where*?!?
:-)))


Eric Flesch