Properties of faint galaxies in two fields near the South Galactic Pole

Geometric properties have been measured for 30 760 galaxies down to a limiting angular diameter of 48 μm (3.2 arcsec) in two fields near the South Galactic Pole on a deep photograph taken with the UK 1.2-m Schmidt Telescope using mapping mode data from the COSMOS machine. There are large fluctuations in the surface density of distant rich clusters of galaxies over small angles of the sky. One of the regions studied here contains several rich clusters, the other is deficient in such. The covariance function for the distribution of galaxies on small angular separations (up to 2.24 arcmin) is not significantly different between the two fields, but is markedly different for larger separations. The number-angular diameter relationship is sensitive to the presence of both nearby and distant clusters. There is no evidence for a 'local excess' in the distribution of galaxies in this direction of the sky. The mean apparent ellipticity for galaxies with angular diameter >= 240 μm is 0.4. No systematic effect in the alignments of galaxies in the field was found. (author)