A visual search for galaxies at a Milky Way region between galactic longitude −7° and 68°

This paper represents our visual systematic search for galaxies behind the Milky Way region between L −7° and 68° and b 19°. The surveyed area is about 1600 square degrees and a total of 23,796 galaxies and galaxy candidates with sizes of 0.1′ or greater are identified. Among the detected objects, 230 have been given in galaxy catalogs and another 281 are associated with IRAS point sources containing 81 IRAS galaxies with known red shifts. The detected objects have been compiled in three volumes of a catalog, in which the position in (α,δ) and (L,b), the size, and the features of the image and multiplicity are given for each object. The surface number densities of the detected objects almost depend on the galactic latitude as well as on the distribution of nearby dark clouds. In the surveyed regions, there is no evidence of any nearby cluster.