The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog. I. Early data release

We present the first edition of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey(SDSS) Quasar Catalog. The catalogconsists of the 3814 objects (3000 discovered by the SDSS) in the initial SDSS public data release that have at least one emission line with a full width at half-maximum larger than 1000 km s-1, luminosities brighter than Mi* = -23, and highly reliable redshifts. The area covered by the catalogis 494 deg2; the majority of the objects were found in SDSS commissioning data using a multicolor selection technique. The quasarredshifts range from 0.15 to 5.03. For each object the catalogpresents positions accurate to better than 02 rms per coordinate, five-band (ugriz) CCD-based photometry with typical accuracy of 0.05 mag, radio and X-ray emission properties, and information on the morphology and selection method. Calibrated spectra of all objects in the catalog, covering the wavelength region 3800–9200 A at a spectral resolution of 1800–2100, are also available. Since the quasarswere selected during the commissioning period, a time when the quasarselection algorithm was undergoing frequent revisions, the sample is not homogeneous and is not intended for statistical analysis.