NRA) VLA Sky Survey

The full NVSS survey data includes information on other Stokes parameters. <p> Observations for the 1.4 GHz NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) began in 1993 September and should cover the sky north of -40 deg declination (82% of the celestial sphere) before the end of 1996. The principal data products are: <ol> <li> A set of 2326 continuum map "cubes," each covering 4 deg X 4 deg with three planes containing Stokes I, Q, and U images.

These maps were made with a relatively large restoring beam (45 arcsec FWHM) to yield the high surface-brightness sensitivity needed for completeness and photometric accuracy. Their rms brightness fluctuations are about 0.45 mJy/beam = 0.14 K (Stokes I) and 0.29 mJy/beam = 0.09 K (Stokes Q and U). The rms uncertainties in right ascension and declination vary from 0.3 arcsec for strong (S > 30 mJy) point sources to 5 arcsec for the faintest (S = 2.5 mJy) detectable sources. <li> Lists of discrete sources. </ol> The NVSS is being made as a service to the astronomical community, and the data products are being released as soon as they are produced and verified. <P> The NVSS survey is included on the <b>SkyView High Resolution Radio Coverage </b><a href="skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/high_res_radio.jpg"> map</a>.