The ALFA ZOA Deep Survey: First Results
  The Arecibo L-Band Feed Array Zone of Avoidance (ALFA ZOA) Deep Survey is the
deepest and most sensitive blind Hi survey undertaken in the ZOA. ALFA ZOA Deep
will cover about 300 square degrees of sky behind the Galactic plane in both
the inner (30 deg < l < 75 deg; b < |2 deg|) and outer (175 deg < l < 207 deg;
-2 deg < b < +1 deg) Galaxy, using the Arecibo Radio Telescope. First results
from the survey have found 61 galaxies within a 15 square degree area centered
on l = 192 deg and b = -2 deg. The survey reached its expected sensitivity of
rms = 1 mJy at 9 km/s channel resolution, and is shown to be complete above
integrated flux, F_HI = 0.5 Jy km/s. The positional accuracy of the survey is
28 arcsec and detections are found out to a recessional velocity of nearly
19,000 km/s. The survey confirms the extent of the Orion and Abell 539 clusters
behind the plane of the Milky Way and discovers expansive voids, at 10,000 km/s
and 18,000 km/s. 26 detections (43%) have a counterpart in the literature, but
only two of these have known redshift. Counterparts are 20% less common beyond
v_hel = 10,000 km/s and 33% less common at extinctions higher than AB = 3.5
mag. ALFA ZOA Deep survey is able to probe large scale structure beyond
redshifts that even the most modern wide-angle surveys have been able to detect
in the Zone of Avoidance at any wavelength.
