The first spectra recorded by the 2df
These are the first 196 out of a total of 250,000 galaxy obtained by the AAO's 2df System during the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey. Two hundred and seventy two observing nights over the period from 1999 to 2002 were dedicated to completing the survey. It mapped the structure of the Universe out to distances of 600 Mpc - in size and breadth, a survey volume ten times larger than any previously undertaken.
This image is a 2 hour exposure obtained with the engineering grade CCD on 2nd October, 1996. 200 optical fibres are positioned by a robot over a 2 degree field in the prime focal plane of the AAT and feed a customised spectrograph. The data has been pipelined reduced by automated data reduction software developed in-house at AAO. When this image was made, the 2dF system was still to be commissioned. A second spectrograph was added a few months afterwards, thus equipping the system to record from its full complement of 400 fibres.