ESO Imaging Survey VII. Distant Cluster Candidates over 12 square degrees

Abstract

In this paper the list of candidate clusters identified from the I-band data of the ESO Imaging Survey (EIS) is completed using the images obtained over a total area of about 12 square degrees. Together with the data reported earlier the total I-band coverage of EIS is 17 square degrees, which has yielded a sample of 252 cluster candidates in the redshift range $0.2 \lsim z \lsim 1.3$. This is the largest optically-selected sample currently available in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also well distributed in the sky thus providing targets for a variety of VLT programs nearly year round.