The Wide-Field DENIS Near-IR Imaging Survey and 6dF Redshift and Peculiar Velocity Surveys

Abstract

The DENIS survey is currently imaging the entire southern sky in the I, J, and K wavebands. The current star/galaxy separation algorithm is presented and the galaxy counts are nearly perfectly Euclidean. 95% complete and reliable galaxy samples with better than 0.2 magnitude photometry should include 50,000 (K < 12.0), 500,000 (J < 14.8), and 900,000 (I < 16.5) galaxies, respectively, over the full hemisphere. Two spectroscopic followups of DENIS and 2MASS galaxies are planned on the 6dF robotic multi-object spectroscopic unit, currently under construction at the AAO, and which will be mounted on the UKST Schmidt telescope: a redshift survey of roughly 120,000 NIR selected galaxies and a peculiar velocity survey of roughly 15,000 galaxies (both early-types and inclined spirals) at cz < 10,000 km/s.