Optical selection of quasars: SDSS and LSST

Understand

Over the last decade, quasar sample sizes have increased from several thousand to several hundred thousand, thanks mostly to SDSS imaging and spectroscopic surveys.

• LSST, the next-generation optical imaging survey, will provide hundreds of detections per object for a sample of more than ten million quasars with redshifts of up to about seven.
• We briefly review optical quasar selection techniques, with emphasis on methods based on colors, variability properties and astrometric behavior.