Redshifts in the Southern Abell Redshift Survey clusters. I. The data

The Southern Abell Redshift Survey (SARS) contains 39 clusters of galaxies with redshifts in the range 0.0 < z < 0.31 and a median redshift depth of (z) over bar = 0.0845. SARS covers the region 0 degrees < delta < - 65 degrees, alpha < 5(h), alpha > 21(h) ( while avoiding the LMC and SMC), with \b\ > 40 degrees. Cluster locations were chosen from the Abell and Abell-Corwin-Olowin catalogs, while galaxy positions were selected from the Automatic Plate Measuring Facility galaxy catalog with extinction-corrected magnitudes in the range 15 <= b(J) < 19. SARS used the Las Campanas 2.5 m du Pont telescope, observing either 65 or 128 objects concurrently over a 1.5 deg(2) field. New redshifts for 3440 galaxies are reported in the fields of these 39 clusters of galaxies.