A deep redshift survey of IRAS galaxies towards the Bootes void

Redshifts were measured for a complete sample of galaxies detected by the IRAS within 11.5 deg of the center of the void in Bootes discovered by Kirshner et al (1981). There are 12 IRAS galaxies within the void as defined by the above authors, seven of which were discovered in this survey. One of these has a companion at the same redshift. The resulting density of IRAS galaxies in the void is measured to be between 1/6 and 1/3 of the average density; the uncertainty is dominated by Poisson statistics. Good agreement is found between the selection function and number density derived from the present sample and those derived from the all-sky sample of Strauss (1989). The optical spectra of the newly found galaxies in the void are typical of IRAS galaxies in the field.