This award supports cooperative research on a survey of the redshift of galaxies in the southern sky by Dr. David Latham of the Smithsonian Observatory (SAO) and L. A. N. da Costa of the National Observatory of Brazil. A survey will be made of a strip of sky in the south to determine whether a good sample of the universe has been achieved in previous work and to measure average properties of large-scale structures and flows. Unexpectedly large structures in the universe have been discovered previously. Mapping out galaxy distributions is the first step toward understanding the origin and evolution of these structures. The collaboration will allow observation of galaxies in the southern skies that cannot be observed from this country, an obvious advantage to the U.S. astronomers. The Smithsonian Observatory will maintain the detector system using expertise and materials not available in Brazil. Excess computer equipment will be shipped to Brazil to help with this work. The Brazilian astronomers will carry out the interpretation of the data during visits to SAO. There is an excellent working relationship between these groups which will be continued by this project.
