LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE IN THE DIRECTION OF THE VIRGO CLUSTER

We explore the distribution of galaxies behind the Virgo cluster out t o z less than or equal to 0.1, using the CfA redshift catalog, ZCAT, i n conjunction with Abell clusters and pencil beam surveys as other tra cers of large-scale structure. The field galaxies of ZCAT are found to trace the same overdensity as indicated by a supercluster defined by Abell clusters in the catalog of Einasto et al. [MNRAS, 269, 351 (1994 )]. On even larger scales, galaxy peaks in three different pencil beam lines of sight toward the Virgo cluster are all found to fall at z ap proximate to 0.08. We show this similarity in redshift to have a small probability of being caused by a random alignment, suggesting a sheet -like structure at that redshift, spanning greater than or similar to 150h(75)(-1) Mpc. (C) American Astronomical Society.