OPTICAL-SPECTRA OF A COMPLETE SAMPLE OF RADIO-SOURCES .1. THE SPECTRA

Spectra covering the observed wavelength range less than or similar to 3800 to greater than or similar to 9400 Angstrom have been obtained f or a complete, flux-limited sample of 64 sources that has been studied extensively at radio wavelengths at high angular resolution. The samp le is now completely identified-four new finding charts are given, and one source was identified spectroscopically. The spectra were obtaine d with the 200 inch Hale telescope, primarily with the Double Spectrog raph, with spectral resolution of about 9 Angstrom at short wavelength s and 18 Angstrom at long wavelengths. Redshifts are now known for 62 of the 64 sources; tentative redshifts are given for the remaining two . The redshift range of the sample is 0.0171-2.55. The goal of these o bservations is a quantitative comparison between the radio structures in these objects, especially the compact nuclei, and the optical spect ra. Many of the objects in the sample are faint, and many others have almost featureless spectra. Considerable care was required in the redu ction and calibration of the spectra to preserve valuable information on these difficult objects. The spectra are fitted with various compon ents: analytic functions for emission and absorption lines, nonthermal continua, Balmer continua, and thermal continua, and template spectra for starlight and Fe II blends. The signal-to-noise ratio of the spec tra, averaged over wavelength, ranges from 2 to 164, with a median of 23. In this paper we describe the observations and data reduction, pre sent the spectra, and give the parameters of components fitted to the spectra.