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Title: Mapping mass in the local universe

Abstract: We only see a small fraction of the matter in the universe,
but the rest gives itself away by the impact of its gravity. The
amount and distribution of this unseen mass provides information about
the basic cosmology of the universe and tells a story about how
galaxies, stars and eventually planets were formed. On the largest
scales galaxies seem to trace a "cosmic web". Their so-called
"peculiar motions" (under the influence of gravity) have painted a
picture of an underlying web of unseen mass (or "dark matter"), but
previous "peculiar velocity" surveys have struggled to meet their full
potential because of the large errors on individual measurements, poor
statistics and uneven sky coverage. I am working on a new survey to
measure the motions of thousands of galaxies and map the cosmic web
with unprecedented detail. This survey makes use of both optical/near
infra-red and radio observations of spiral galaxies to measure their
distances and peculiar velocities. It will provide significant
improvements in sky coverage especially near the obscuring plane of
our Galaxy, which crosses the poorly understood "great attractor"
region towards which the whole local universe appears to be moving. I
will give a progress report on the survey including a look at over 300
hours of neutral hydrogen (21cm) observations from the Green Bank
Telescope as well as Southern hemisphere observations with the Parkes
Radio Telescope.