DRaGONS survey

Using a novel selection technique for identifying high-redshift radio galaxy (HzRG) candidates, a large sample is compiled using bright (S_1.4GHz_>100mJy) radio sources from the FIRST survey having no optical counterpart in the SDSS. Near-IR K-band imaging for 96 targets allows preliminary identification of HzRG candidates through the well-known K-z relation, for subsequent spectroscopic observation.

We measure magnitudes brighter than K~19.5 for 70 of the 96, and limiting magnitudes for the remainder. Redshifts based on a linear fit to the K-z diagram give a mean <z>=2.5 and median z=2.0, showing that this method should be efficient at identifying a large number of HzRGs.