Issue |
Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser.
Volume 141, Number 1, January I 2000
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 123 - 140 | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/aas:2000314 | |
Published online | 15 January 2000 |
A catalog of galaxies behind the Southern Milky Way *
I. The Hydra/Antlia extension (1≈ 266° - 296°)
Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Guanajuato, Apartado Postal 144, Guanajuato Gto 36000, Mexico
Send offprint request to: R.C. Kraan-Korteweg
Received:
6
July
1999
Accepted:
25
October
1999
A deep optical galaxy search in the southern Milky Way – aimed at
reducing the width of the Zone of Avoidance – revealed 3279 galaxy
candidates above the diameter limit of , of
which only 112 (3.4%) were previously catalogued. The surveyed region
(
and
) lies in the extension of the Hydra and Antlia clusters –
where a supercluster is suspected – and in the approximate
direction of the dipole anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background
radiation.
Here we present the optical properties of the unveiled galaxies such
as positions, diameters, magnitudes, morphological types, including a
detailed discussion on the quality of these data and the completeness
limits as a function of the foreground dust extinction. For 127
of the 227 positional matches in the IRAS PSC, a reliable
cross-identification could be found.
Several distinct overdensities and filaments of galaxies can be
identified that are apparently uncorrelated with the Galactic
foreground extinction hence the probable signature of extragalactic
large-scale structures.
This catalog constitutes the first part in a series of five equally
conducted optical searches for galaxies in the southern Milky Way
(
). With these surveys, the entire
Zone of Avoidance will have been covered by means of visual
inspection. The catalogs build the basis for various spectroscopic
and photometric follow-up programs which eventually will allow a
thorough analyse of the galaxy distribution in redshift space and the
peculiar velocity fields within the Zone of Avoidance, as well an an
improved understanding of the Galactic foreground extinction.
Key words: catalogs / galaxies: clusters: general / large-scale structure of the Universe
© European Southern Observatory (ESO), 2000