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1 Introduction

Recent deep radio surveys (S << 1 mJy) have shown that normalized radio source counts flatten below a few mJy. This has been interpreted as being due to a new population which does not show up at higher fluxes where counts are dominated by active galactic nuclei (AGN). To clarify its nature it is necessary to get detailed information on the radio properties of normal galaxies in the nearby universe (z $\mathrel{\mathchoice {\vcenter{\offinterlineskip\halign{\hfil
$\displaystyle ... 0.15), down to faint flux limits and to have at hand large samples of mJy and sub-mJy sources, for subsequent optical identification and spectroscopic work. To this end we have surveyed a large area ($\sim$ 26 sq. degrees) with the ATCA at 1.4 GHz with a bandwidth of $2\times128$ MHz. The properties of normal nearby galaxies can be easily derived, because this area coincides with the region in which the ESP redshift survey was conducted (Vettolani et al. 1997). Samples of faint galaxies over large areas are necessary to avoid bias due to local variations in their properties. Present samples of faint radio sources are confined to small regions with insufficient source statistics.

The present paper contains the radio source catalogue derived from the ATESP survey. The full outline of the radio survey, its motivation in comparison with other surveys, and the description of the mosaic observing technique which was used to obtain an optimal combination of uniform and high sensitivity over the whole area has been presented in Prandoni et al. (2000, Paper I). The source counts derived from the ATESP survey will be presented and discussed separately in a following paper. The paper is organized as follows: in Sect. 2 we describe the source detection and parameterization; the catalogue is described in Sect. 3 and the accuracy of the parameters (flux densities, sizes and positions) are discussed in Sect. 4.


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