Optical morphology of bright quasars on images taken with 1.2 m Schmidt cameras

The optical morphology of bright extragalactic objects listed by Green et al. [ApJS, 61, 305 (1986)] is determined on Palomar Observatory Sky Survey prints. Morphological types are assigned according to whether objects appear resolved or unresolved. These are plotted in the Hubble Diagram. When combined with previous results from the Medium-Bright Quasar Survey (MBQS), objects of redshift z are found to be unresolved on 1.2 m Schmidt telescopes at apparent magnitudes brighter than B=21-3/4z over a large magnitude range 12.5<B<18.5. A luminosity cutoff for unresolved objects in this range is found to be M(B)=-24, (H-0=50), in agreement with an earlier estimate. Relevance to the search for large, bright, host galaxie, and for ''naked quasar'' candidates, is noted. (C) 1996 American Astronomical Society.