New Catalog of Compact 6cm Radio Sources in the Galactic Plane

A catalog of over 2,700 compact radio sources at a 6-cm wavelength, covering 43 square degrees of the Galactic plane. The catalog was created by White et al. in 2005 by combining archival data with new observations from the Very Large Array. It provides a 50% increase in the number of high-reliability compact sources in the surveyed region with improved astrometry and uniformity.

Use Cases

• Cross-matching compact radio sources with mid- and far-infrared surveys based on improved astrometry.
• Statistical analysis of source populations in the Galactic plane based on over 2,700 cataloged entries.
• Studying the distribution and properties of compact objects within a specific Galactic longitude and latitude range.
• Calibrating or validating new radio observations using the high-reliability source positions and flux densities.

Strengths

• Over 2,700 sources cataloged, representing a 50% increase in high-reliability compact sources at 6 cm for the region.
• Covers a defined area of 43 square degrees with a 90% completeness threshold at 2.9 mJy flux density.
• Provides improved astrometry, uniformity, and reliability compared to previous catalogs.
• Has an angular resolution of about 6 arcseconds.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Spatial coverage is limited to the Galactic plane region -10 < l < 42 degrees, |b| < 0.4 degrees.

Provenance

Source

White et al. (2005), created by the NASA HEASARC from CDS tables.

Collection Method

Combined archival data with new observations from the Very Large Array.

Freshness

Catalog data is from 2005; the platform record was last updated 2026-03-13.

Geography

Galactic plane region: longitude -10 to +42 degrees, latitude within +/- 0.4 degrees.