Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters

The survey covers 10,575 square degrees, It was proposed at the same time as the NRAO VLA Sky Survey, and trial observations for both surveys were taken in 1992. Survey observations of the North Galactic pole started in 1993, with 144 hours of observing time in April and May 1993 for test observations and the initial survey strip of 300 square degrees, producing an initial catalogue of 28,000 sources. Survey observations continued until 2004. Observations of the South Galactic pole were made in 2009 and 2011; the 2011 observations used the EVLA. The target flux density limit was 1 milliJansky, with an 10^6 radio sources would be observed and 65,000 images produced by the survey; the 2014 catalogue included 946,432 sources. Sources in the catalogue follow a naming convention comprising the survey name and source coordinate with the format "FIRST Jhhmmss.s+ddmmss"; the convention is registered with the International Astronomical Union. == Science ==

The resolution of the survey was chosen so that optical counterparts to the radio sources could be identified; complex radio sources with multiple components could be resolved (to avoid optical misidentifications); and radio morphology (e.g., Fanaroff-Riley classification) could be identified. The survey aimed to contribute to science on quasars and active galaxies; galaxy evolution; galactic astronomy; the large-scale structure of the Universe; and dark matter. The survey produced a series of papers. The survey paper has been referenced by over 1,600 other scientific publications. The survey sources were cross-matched with the Palomar Sky Survey to create the FIRST Bright Quasar Survey (FBQS), which comprised quasar candidates that were then followed up with optical spectroscopy. The initial survey found 69 quasars, with 51 being newly identified. A number of broad absorption line quasars were discovered by FIRST. Other, high-redshift quasars were identified in the survey by cross-matching with SDSS. Variability was detected in over 1600 sources during the course of the survey, including stars, pulsars, galaxies, quasars, and unidentified radio sources. On large scales, the two-point correlation function between radio galaxies was observed. == References ==