Optical morphology of distant RATAN-800 radio galaxies from subarcsecond resolution NOT images

We present direct imaging data of 22 ultra steep spectrum radio sources obt ained at (or near) a subarcsecond seeing. The basic sample of 40 double rad io sources was selected from the RATAN-600 catalogue. The FRII-structure ha s been confirmed with VLA and preliminary optical identifications which com e from the 6 m-telescope. As the RATAN-BOO flux limit at 3.9 GHz (approxima te to 10 mJy) is fainter than that of major surveys, the sample may have hi gh-z contents. This is also suggested by the faint magnitudes in the Hubble diagram. The final aim is to create a homogeneous sample of high-z radio g alaxies in a well defined strip around the sky, with faint radio limit and subarcsecond morphology down to m(R) = 24. We could confirm 16 identifications down to m(R) similar to 24. Most of the extended objects have multicomponent structures as expected from other sur veys of high-redshift radio galaxies. We found five unresolved objects even with a subarcsecond seeing. Of the remaining six objects, three are extrem ely faint and the other three have such a complex environment that further observations are needed to confirm the optical identification.