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ROTATION CURVES OF 967 SPIRAL GALAXIES

We present the rotation curves (RCs) of 967 spiral galaxies, obtained by folding and deprojecting the raw optical data by Mathewson et al. (1992). Out of these, we have identified 80 excellent RCs and 820 fair RCs. The 80 excellent RCs are smooth, symmetric, have negligible rms internal error, extend to at least the optical radius, and have high and homogeneus radial data coverage; they rival with the best optical one-slit RCs available in the literature and are ideally suited for detailed mass structure modelling. The 820 fair RCs do not meet at least one of the above criteria and hence are not suitable for direct mass modelling; however, they constitute a large database for methods aiming to recover statistical properties of DM. For these 900 RCs we also present, in figures and tables, the rotation curves smoothed on scales corresponding to 5%-20% of the optical size. By size, homogeneity, intrinsic quality, and spanned range of luminosities and asymptotic velocities, this sample constitutes by far the best sample of RCs available to date. As such, it will offer a unique opportunity for investigating in considerable depth the properties of DM in galaxies. The the deprojected folded curves, the smoothed curves, and various related quantities are available via anonymous ftp at galileo.sissa.it in the directory /users/ftp/pub/psrot.