Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 137, 83-92

ESO Imaging Survey

VII. Distant cluster candidates over 12 square degrees

M. Scodeggio¹ - L.F. Olsen^1,2 - L. da Costa¹ - R. Slijkhuis^1,3 - C. Benoist¹ - E. Deul^1,3 - T. Erben^1,4 - R. Hook⁵ - M. Nonino^1,6 - A. Wicenec¹ - S. Zaggia ^1,7

Send offprint request: M. Scodeggio

1 - European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, D-85748 Garching b. München, Germany
2 - Astronomisk Observatorium, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
3 - Leiden Observatory, P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
4 - Max-Planck Institut für Astrophysik, Postfach 1523, D-85748 Garching b. München, Germany
5 - Space Telescope - European Coordinating Facility, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, D-85748 Garching b. München, Germany
6 - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-31144 Trieste, Italy
7 - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, via Moiariello 15, I-80131 Napoli, Italy

Received August 5; accepted December 21, 1998

Abstract:

In this paper the list of candidate clusters identified from the I-band images of the ESO Imaging Survey (EIS) is completed using the data obtained over a total area of about 12 square degrees (EIS Patches C and D). 248 new cluster candidates are presented. Together with the data reported earlier the total I-band coverage of EIS is 17 square degrees, which has yielded a sample of 302 cluster candidates with estimated redshift in the range $0.2 ~\rlap{$<$}{\lower 1.0ex\hbox{$\sim$}}\, z ~\rlap{$<$}{\lower 1.0ex\hbox{$\sim$}}\,1.3$ and a median redshift of z=0.5. This is the largest optically-selected sample currently available in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also well distributed in the sky thus providing targets for a variety of VLT programs nearly year round.

Key words: galaxies: clusters: general -- large-scale structure of the Universe -- Cosmology: observations -- surveys