SCG2 2101-3536 , the SIMBAD biblio

We present a new sample of compact groups in the southern sky, selected by an automated detection algorithm applied to a digitized galaxy database. The selection criteria differ slightly from those adopted in the pioneering work by Hickson in 1982. Our search extends to fainter magnitudes and our algorithm tries to minimize contamination by foreground/background galaxies. The selected sample comprises 121 groups over an area of ∼5200 deg², i.e., ∼25% of the southern sky. The properties of these groups (e.g., luminosity concordance of member galaxies, high group surface brightness) suggest that they are truly high-density systems: dynamical evolutionary effects related to their dense environment have modified the properties of group member galaxies and of each group as a whole.