PENETRATING THE ZONE OF AVOIDANCE .2. OPTICALLY DETECTED GALAXIES IN THE REGION -OR-EQUAL-TO-L-LESS-THAN-OR-SIMILAR-TO-240-DEGREES

We have carried out a systematic search for galaxies in the galactic p lane in a ten degree wide strip (-5 degrees less than or equal to b le ss than or equal to +5 degrees). In an area of 300 square degrees betw een l = 180 degrees and l = 210 degrees, 755 galaxies have been detect ed on Palomar red-sensitive prints. The smallest galaxies show diamete rs of 0.1 mm corresponding to 6''.7. We extended our survey to delta = -27 degrees i.e. l approximate to 247 degrees to check our catalogue for completeness by comparing it with the Saito et al. (1990, 1991) ca talogues of galaxies and present 334 new galaxy candidates at l greate r than or equal to 210 degrees. An asymmetry with respect to the galac tic equator is obvious. By assuming the 60 mu and 100 mu sky flux dens ity to be a rough measure of the total interstellar galactic extinctio n, and comparing them with the surface densities of the galaxies, we d etected one possible galaxy cluster candidate at (l, b) approximate to (181 degrees.5, + 3 degrees.5), a concentration of galaxies at (l, b) approximate to (195 degrees, + 4 degrees.5), and confirmed three othe r galaxy concentrations. Finally, we argue that the red-sensitive surv eys (ESO R; POSS II-R, POSS II-IR) are the best suitable material for galaxy searches in the zone of avoidance.