The Jagiellonian Field

Illustration 1: One of the 36 charts from the Atlas of the Jagiellonian Field. The map covers the center of the field and measures 67.5' x 67.5', and the square grid cells measure 7.5' x 7.5'.

In the second half of the 20th century, astronomers devoted significant effort to understanding the mechanisms behind the formation of galaxies and their clustering into groups, clusters and even larger structures. An important step in the study of the large-scale structure of the Universe was a sky survey known as the 'Jagiellonian Field of Galaxies' conducted by Professor Konrad Rudnicki between 1966 and 1967 using the 125-cm Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observatory (USA).

During his stay in California, Prof. Konrad Rudnicki became interested in a region of the sky (centered at α: 11h 19m, δ: 35° 53' J2000.0) pointed out by the prominent astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky. Located near the constellation Ursa Major, this area is rich in distant galaxy clusters, yet largely free of bright stars, obscuring dense interstellar matter, or nearby extragalactic objects.

This survey, the deepest of its time, covered an area of ​​approximately 36 square degrees of the sky. The images were taken in three color bands (blue, yellow, and red) and consisted of about 20 photographic plates, each measuring 35 cm by 35 cm. The limiting magnitudes for the respective color bands were approximately 21.8, 21, and 20.3. The survey resulted in a catalog containing nearly sixteen thousand galaxies, which was published in the first issue of Acta Cosmologica, a journal issued by the Jagiellonian University.

Based on the Jagiellonian Field catalog, numerous publications have been produced concerning the clustering of galaxies. One of the first was a statistical analysis of galaxy distribution conducted by Nobel laureate James Peebles (1975, ApJ, 196, 647). To mark the centenary of the birth of Professor Konrad Rudnicki, a two-day scientific and historical session titled "From Astronomical Observations towards Cosmology and Philosophy of Nature" - dedicated to his life and scientific work - was held in Krakow this July. Many of the conference presentations focused on various aspects related to the Jagiellonian Field.