OPTICAL SPECTROSCOPY OF LUMINOUS INFRARED GALAXIES .1. NUCLEAR-DATA

A spectroscopic survey of a large sample of luminous infrared galaxies [log(L(ir)/L.)(7) similar or equal to 10.5-12.5; H-0 = 75 km s(-1) Mp c(-1)] has been carried out using the Palomar 5 m telescope and the Un iversity of Hawaii 2.2 m telescope. Long-slit spectra covering 3750-80 00 Angstrom at a resolution of similar to 10 Angstrom were obtained of 200 IRAS galaxies, including 114 objects from the IRAS Bright Galaxy Survey, and 86 objects with fainter infrared fluxes selected on the ba sis of their ''warm'' far-infrared (S-60/S-100) colors. The methods of observation and data reduction are discussed. An atlas of the spectra extracted from the nuclear region of these objects is presented along with a large number of parameters describing the properties of the em ission lines, the stellar absorption lines, and the continuum emission that were measured from the spectra. An analysis of these data is pre sented in a companion paper (Veilleux et al. 1995) along with a discus sion of the spatial variations of these parameters in a subsample of t wenty-three objects.