SIMBAD references

In this second paper of the catalogue series of galaxies behind the southern Milky Way, we report on the deep optical galaxy search in the Crux region (289°≤l≤318° and -10°≤b≤10°) and the Great Attractor region (316°≤l≤338° and -10°≤b≤10°). The galaxy catalogues are presented, a brief description of the galaxy search given, as well as a discussion on the distribution and characteristics of the uncovered galaxies. A total of 8182 galaxies with major diameters D> 0.2' were identified in this ∼850 square degree area: 3759 galaxies in the Crux region and 4423 galaxies in the Great Attractor region. Of the 8182 galaxies, 229 (2.8%) were catalogued before in the optical (3 in radio) and 251 galaxies have a reliable (159), or likely (92) cross-identification in the IRAS Point Source Catalogue (3.1%). A number of prominent overdensities and filaments of galaxies are identified. They are not correlated with the Galactic foreground extinction and hence indicative of extragalactic large-scale structures. Redshifts obtained at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) for 518 of the newly catalogued galaxies in the Crux and Great Attractor regions (Fairall et al., 1998A&AS..127..463F; Woudt et al., 1999A&A...352...39W) confirm distinct voids and clusters in the area here surveyed. With this optical galaxy search, we have reduced the width of the optical ``Zone of Avoidance'' for galaxies with extinction-corrected diameters larger than 1.3 arcmin from extinction levels A_B≥1.0mag to A_B≥3.0mag: the remaining optical Zone of Avoidance is now limited by |b|≲3° (see Fig. 16).