Markarian Galaxies Optical Database

A database for the entire Markarian (First Byurakan Spectral Sky Survey or FBS) Catalog is presented that combines extensive new measurements of their optical parameters with a literature and database search. The measurements were made using images extracted from the STScI Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) of F_pg (red) and J_pg (blue) band photographic sky survey plates obtained by the Palomar and UK Schmidt telescopes. The authors provide accurate coordinates, morphological type, spectral and activity classes, red and blue apparent magnitudes, apparent diameters, axial ratios, and position angles, as well as number counts of neighboring objects in a circle of radius 50 kpc. Special attention was paid to the individual descriptions of the galaxies in the original Markarian lists, which clarified many cases of misidentifications of the objects, particularly among interacting systems, larger galaxies with knots of star formation, possible stars, and cases of stars projected on galaxies. The total number of individual Markarian objects in the database is now 1544. The authors also have included redshifts which are now available for 1524 of the objectswith UV-excess radiation, as well as Galactic color excess E(B-V) values and their 2MASS or DENIS infrared magnitudes. The table also includes extensive notes that summarize information about the membership of Markarian galaxies in different systems of galaxies and about new and revised activity classes and redshifts. The new optical information on Markarian galaxies was obtained from images extracted from the STScI Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) of F_pg (red) and J_pg (blue) band photographic sky survey plates obtained by the Palomar and UK Schmidt telescopes. This table was created by the HEASARC in November 2009 based on the electronic version of the optical database of Markarian galaxies which was obtained from the CDS (their catalog J/ApJS/170/33 file table1.dat). This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer HEASARC Help Desk
Last Updated September 14, 2026, 22:33 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 12:42 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id 1843af2b-2c09-4d14-a11a-d0bffdab224c
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier ivo://nasa.heasarc/markarian2
landingPage ivo://nasa.heasarc/markarian2
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-09-07T22:15:59Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 37e18a7521a855490f987e36bf95b5aecb1c403d1310e4840ced514e7103e183
source_schema_version 1.1
theme {Astrophysics}