NO BACK-SIDE INFALL INTO THE GREAT ATTRACTOR

This Letter presents the first results of a survey of the peculiar velocities of 1355 spiral galaxies in the southern sky using the Tully-Fisher relation to estimate their distances. The most important result of these measurements is that no back-side infall into the Great Attractor is found, contrary to the findings of Dressler & Faber; rather, evidence is found for a bulk flow of about 600 km s-1 on scales greater than 60 h-1 Mpc. This, when added to the bulk flow of 450 km s-1 recently found by Willick in the opposite part of the sky, suggests that there is bulk flow in the supergalactic plane over very large scales greater than 130 h-1 Mpc. The origin of this bulk flow is a puzzle.