The VLA-COSMOS survey. II. Source catalog of the large project

The VLA-COSMOS Large Project is described and its scientific objective is discussed. We present a catalog of similar to 3600 radio sources found in the 2 deg(2) COSMOS field at 1.4 GHz. The observations in the VLA A and C configuration resulted in a resolution of 1.5 '' x 1.4 '' and a mean rms noise of similar to 10.5 ( 15) mu Jy beam(-1) in the central 1 ( 2) deg2. Eighty radio sources are clearly extended consisting of multiple components, and most of them appear to be double-lobed radio galaxies. The astrometry of the catalog has been thoroughly tested, and the uncertainty in the relative and absolute astrometry are 130 and < 55 mas, respectively.