An optical spectroscopic atlas of low-redshift active galactic nuclei

We present a spectral atlas of the Hbeta region for 215 type 1 AGNs ( luminous Seyfert 1/radio galaxy nuclei and low-z quasars) up to z approximate to 0.8. Line profiles and measures were derived from the database of intermediate resolution spectra ( R e 1000) with average continuum level S/N ratio approximate to30. Parameters including rest frame equivalent width and FWHM are provided for the Fe IIopt blend at lambda4570, Hbeta, He II lambda4686, and the [O III] lambdalambda4959, 5007 emission lines. We extract clean broad component Hbeta profiles and provide wavelength measurements at 0, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 0.9 peak intensity levels in order to permit a quantitative definition of the Hbeta broad component for statistical studies. We also discuss sources of uncertainty, selection effects, and biases in our sample. The data are especially important for tests of the eigenvector 1 parameter space occupation and correlation. We show that the I Zw 1 template Fe IIopt spectrum reproduces well the observed Fe IIopt emission for a wide range of line width and strength. A detailed analysis of the data within the eigenvector 1 context is deferred to a companion paper.