An HI survey of the Bootes Void. I. The Data

We present the results of a neutral hydrogen survey of the Bootes void carried out with the VLA in D-array. The survey covers $\sim 1100$ Mpc$^{3}$, about 1\% of the volume of the void as defined by Kirshner \etal 1987. We observed 24 fields, centered on known void galaxies; 16 of these were detected in HI. Eighteen uncataloged companion galaxies were discovered directly in the HI line at distances of $45\sec$ to $14.5\min$ from the target galaxies. We also present the results of follow-up optical imaging observations and discovery of one additional Bootes void galaxy, found through spectroscopy of a number of apparent companions to known void members. Our angular resolution is $\sim 1\min$ (45 kpc) \footnote{Throughout this paper, we have assumed ${H_{0}}$ = ${\rm 100\,km\,s^{-1}Mpc^{-1}}$.}, each field has a size of $\sim 1\deg$ (2.7 Mpc). The detected HI masses range from $8\times 10^{8}$ to $1\times 10^{10} \msol$. Typically our $2\sigma$ HI column density sensitivity is $2\times 10^{19} {\rm cm^{-2}}$. The radio and optical data are analyzed and discussed in the following companion article (Paper~2, Szomoru, van Gorkom, Gregg and Strauss 1996).