  The Chandra Multi-wavelength Project (ChaMP) is a wide-area (~14 deg^2)
survey of serendipitous Chandra X-ray sources, aiming to establish fair
statistical samples covering a wide range of characteristics (such as absorbed
AGNs, high z clusters of galaxies) at flux levels (fX ~ 10^-15 - 10^-14 erg
sec-1 cm-2) intermediate between the Chandra Deep surveys and previous
missions. We present the first ChaMP catalog, which consists of 991 near
on-axis, bright X-ray sources obtained from the initial sample of 62
observations. The data have been uniformly reduced and analyzed with techniques
specifically developed for the ChaMP and then validated by visual examination.
To assess source reliability and positional uncertainty, we perform a series of
simulations and also use Chandra data to complement the simulation study. The
false source detection rate is found to be as good as or better than expected
for a given limiting threshold. On the other hand, the chance of missing a real
source is rather complex, depending on the source counts, off-axis distance (or
PSF), and background rate. The positional error (95% confidence level) is
usually < 1" for a bright source, regardless of its off-axis distance while it
can be as large as 4" for a weak source (~20 counts) at a large off-axis
distance (Doff-axis > 8'). We have also developed new methods to find spatially
extended or temporary variable sources and those sources are listed in the
catalog.
