The survey determined the large-scale structure in two large slices of the Universe to a depth of around 2.5 billion light years (redshift ~ 0.2).

Team members Shaun Cole and John Peacock were awarded a share of the 2014 Shaw Prize in astronomy for results from the 2dFGRS.

The survey was carried out with the 4 metre Anglo-Australian Telescope, with the 2dF instrument installed at the primary focus permitting the observation of a field of 2 degrees per pointing.

The instrument possesses a spectrograph equipped with two banks each of 200 optical fibres, permitting the simultaneous measurement of 400 spectra.

In the figure a 3-D reconstruction of the inner parts of the survey is shown, revealing a view on the cosmic structures in the nearby universe.