EDP Sciences Journals List
Advanced Search
Subscriber Authentication Point
Home All issues Volume 499/2 Article
Free access article

Issue A&A
Volume 499, Number 2, May IV 2009
Page(s) 357 - 369
Section Cosmology (including clusters of galaxies)
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/200810838
Published online 24 February 2009

A&A 499, 357-369 (2009)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/200810838

The REFLEX galaxy cluster survey

VIII. Spectroscopic observations and optical atlas,
L. Guzzo1, 2, P. Schuecker2, H. Böhringer2, C. A. Collins3, A. Ortiz-Gil1, 4, S. De Grandi1, A. C. Edge5, D. M. Neumann6, S. Schindler7, C. Altucci1, and P. A. Shaver8

1  INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate (LC), Italy
    e-mail: luigi.guzzo@brera.inaf.it
2  Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstraße 1, 85740 Garching, Germany
3  Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Twelve Quays House, Egerton Wharf, Birkenhead CH41 1LD, UK
4  Observatori Astronomic – Universitat de Valencia, Edificio de Institutos de Investigacion, Aptdo. Correos 22085, 46071 Valencia, Spain
5  Physics Department, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
6  CEA Saclay, Service d'Astrophysique, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
7  Institute for Astro- and Particle Physics, Universität Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
8  European Southern Observatory, 85748 Garching, Germany


Received 21 August 2008 / Accepted 16 December 2008

Abstract
We present the final data from the spectroscopic survey of the ROSAT-ESO Flux-Limited X-ray (REFLEX) catalog of galaxy clusters. The REFLEX survey covers 4.24 steradians (34% of the entire sky) below a declination of $\delta$ = +2.50 and at high Galactic latitude (|b| > 20°). The REFLEX catalog includes 447 entries with a median redshift of 0.08 and is better than 90% complete to a limiting flux $f_{\rm X}$ = 3$\times$10-12 erg s-1 cm-2 (0.1 to 2.4 keV), representing the largest statistically homogeneous sample of clusters drawn from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) to date. Here we describe the details of the spectroscopic observations carried out at the ESO 1.5 m, 2.2 m, and 3.6 m telescopes, as well as the data reduction and redshift measurement techniques. The spectra typically cover the wavelength range 3600–7500 Å at a two-pixel resolution of ~14 Å, and the measured redshifts have a total rms error of ~100 km s-1. In total we present 1406 new galaxy redshifts in 192 clusters, most of which previously did not have any redshift measured. Finally, the luminosity/redshift distributions of the cluster sample and a comparison to the no-evolution expectations from the cluster X-ray luminosity function are presented.


Key words: surveys -- galaxies: clusters: general -- galaxies: distances and redshifts



© ESO 2009


What is OpenURL?

The OpenURL standard is a protocol for transmission of metadata describing the resource that you wish to access. An OpenURL link contains article metadata and directs it to the OpenURL server of your choice. The OpenURL server can provide access to the resource and also offer complementary services (specific search engine, export of references...). The OpenURL link can be generated by different means.
  • If your librarian has set up your subscription with an OpenURL resolver, OpenURL links appear automatically on the abstract pages.
  • You can define your own OpenURL resolver with your EDPS Account. In this case your choice will be given priority over that of your library.
  • You can use an add-on for your browser (Firefox or I.E.) to display OpenURL links on a page (see http://www.openly.com/openurlref/). You should disable this module if you wish to use the OpenURL server that you or your library have defined.