The Supercluster-Void Network I. The Supercluster Catalogue and Large-Scale Distribution

We investigate the distribution of superclusters and voids using a new catalogue of superclusters of rich clusters of galaxies which extends up to a redshift of z=0.12. The new catalogue contains 220 superclusters of rich clusters, of which 90 superclusters have been determined for the first time. Two thirds of those superclusters with eight or more member clusters are concentrated to a Dominant Supercluster Plane almost perpendicular to the plane of the Local Supercluster. Several independent methods indicate consistently the presence of a quite regular supercluster-void network with scale of approx. 120 Mpc. We determine the selection function of the sample of clusters and suggest that the mean true space density of Abell clusters is 2.6 x 10^-5 h^3 Mpc^-3, or twice the conventionally used value.