The MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey Data Release 2: Wideband continuum catalogues and a measurement of the cosmic radio dipole

Understand

We present the second data release of the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS), consisting of wideband continuum catalogues of 391 pointings observed at L~band.

• The full wideband catalogue covers 4344 deg$^2$ of sky, reaches a depth of 10 $\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$, and contains 971,980 sources.
• With its balance between survey depth and sky coverage, MALS DR2 covers five orders of magnitude of flux density, presenting a robust view of the extragalactic radio source population down to 200 $\mu$Jy.
• Using this catalogue, we perform a measurement of the cosmic radio dipole, an anisotropy in the number counts of radio sources with respect to the cosmic background, analogous to the dipole found in the cosmic microwave background (CMB).