A redshift survey for galaxies behind the Milky Way near the Galactic Center

The galaxy search at the region near the galactic center is still highly incomplete. This paper presents results of our redshift measurements for a random sample of galaxies and galaxy candidates at l ≃ 18° to 41° and b ≃ -17° to 17°, most of which were newly identified through our previous optical search. We have obtained 78 new radial velocities, and found two regions with enhanced density at around l ≃ 32°, cz ≃ 1500 km s-1 and at l ≃ 30° to 40°, cz ≃ 6000 to 7000 km s-1. Our data rule out the possible presence of a nearby large void at the region cz < 6000 km s-1 around l = 30°, which has been induced from the results of a systematic search for IRAS galaxies.