| Abstract | We have obtained neutral hydrogen (H I) observations of 47 southern, extreme late-type galaxies for which redshifts and H I properties were previously unavailable. These observations are part of our ongoing survey to increase the sample of nearby, extreme late-type galaxies with known redshifts and H I properties. Our goals are to further our knowledge of the lower-mass end of the local H I luminosity function and to increase our understanding of the diverse population of small, gas-rich galaxies in the local universe. The current study emphasizes optically selected targets with smaller angular sizes than previous surveys, as well as galaxies behind the Galactic plane. Our observations have uncovered a diverse set of gas-rich, nearby galaxies, and our detection rate of over 50% underscores the usefulness of H I pencil beam surveys for studying categories of galaxies which have often been neglected in past surveys. In addition to presenting H I properties of a selection of extreme late- type galaxies, we report the discovery of two extremely H I-rich galaxies which may be moderate-mass versions of Malin- 1 -type systems. Our observations have also lead to the potential discovery of a new local Group member and at least two cases of significant H I which cannot be unambiguously associated with any galaxy visible on the Southern Sky Survey. Finally, our data provide additional confirmation of a dense clustering of galaxies near the region known as Puppis. |
