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The Large Scale Distribution of Galaxies in the Shapley Supercluster

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2013

Michael J. Drinkwater
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia. (e-mail: mjd@physics.uq.edu.au)
Quentin A. Parker
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia. Anglo-Australian Observatory, PO Box 296, Epping, NSW 1710, Australia. (e-mail: qap@ics.mq.edu.au)
Dominique Proust
Affiliation:
GEPI — Observatoire de Paris–Meudon, 92195 Meudon CEDEX, France. (e-mail: Dominique.Proust@obspm.fr)
Eric Slezak
Affiliation:
Observatoire de Nice, 06304 Nice CEDEX4, France. (e-mail: Slezak@obs-nice.fr)
Hernán Quintana
Affiliation:
Departamento de Astronomia y Astrofisica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 104, Santiago 22, Chile. (e-mail: hquintan@astro.puc.cl
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Abstract

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We present new results of our wide-field redshift survey of galaxies in a 182 square degree region of the Shapley Supercluster (SSC) based on observations with the FLAIR-II spectrograph on the UK Schmidt Telescope (UKST). In this paper we present new measurements to give a total sample of redshifts for 710 bright (R ≤ 16.6) galaxies, of which 464 are members of the SSC (8000 < v < 18 000 km s–1). Our data reveal that the main plane of the SSC (v ≈ 14 500 km s–1) extends further than previously realised, filling the whole extent of our survey region of 10 degrees by 20 degrees on the sky (35 Mpc by 70 Mpc, for H0 = 75 km s–1 Mpc–1). There is also a significant structure associated with the slightly nearer Abell 3571 cluster complex (v ≈ 12 000 km s–1) with a caustic structure evident out to a radius of 6 Mpc. These galaxies seem to link two previously identified sheets of galaxies and establish a connection with a third one at V (V) = 15 000 km s–1 near RA = 13h. They also tend to fill the gap of galaxies between the foreground Hydra-Centaurus region and the more distant SSC. We calculate galaxy overdensities of 5.0 ± 0.1 over the 182 square degree region surveyed and 3.3 ± 0.1 in a 159 square degree region excluding rich clusters. Over the large region of our survey the inter-cluster galaxies make up 46 per cent of all galaxies in the SSC region and may contribute a similar amount of mass to the cluster galaxies.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2004

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