The MX Northern Abell Cluster Redshift Survey

Abstract

The results from the COBE satellite show the existence of structure on scales ~10% or more of the horizon scale of the universe. Rich clusters of galaxies from the Abell/Abell, Corwin, & Olowin catalogs show evidence of structure on scales of 100 h-1 Mpc and hold the promise of confirming structure on the scale of the COBE results. An impediment to that promise has been that redshift information has been unavailable for a large percentage of these clusters, so knowledge of their three-dimensional distribution has had large uncertainties. We have been working to greatly expand the sample of Abell clusters with reliable redshifts.