ANGULAR PROJECTIONS OF FRACTAL SETS

We discuss various questions which arise when one considers the centra l projection of three-dimensional fractal sets (galaxy catalogs) onto the celestial globe. The issues are related to how fractal such projec tions look. First we show that the lacunarity in the projection can be arbitrarily small. Further characteristics of the projected set-in pa rticular scaling-depend sensitively on how the apparent sizes of galax ies are taken into account. Finally, we discuss the influence of the o pacity of galaxies. Combining these ideas, seemingly contradictory sta tements about lacunarity and apparent projections can be reconciled.