Laniakea

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Map of super galaxy clusters and voids within a billion light years of the Milky Way, Laniakea in yellow

At Laniakea is the local wholesale super clusters of galaxies . It comprises around 100,000 galaxies , including the Milky Way . Its expansion is 520 million light years or 160 megaparsecs .

definition

Laniakea was first described by a research team led by R. Brent Tully from the University of Hawaii in a paper published in September 2014 . Tully's team found a new approach to defining super galaxy clusters by studying the peculiar velocities of galaxies. From the galaxy movements it can be deduced in which direction the gravitational force dominates. A boundary was discovered at which the main direction of movement of the galaxies separates and thus also the affiliation to the superstructures of the universe . The newly found structure moves the Virgo supercluster, which was previously considered the local superheap, to the rank of a mere foothill of Laniakea.

Components

Parts of Laniakea are:

Surroundings

The supercluster neighboring Laniakea are the Shapley supercluster , the Hercules supercluster , the Coma supercluster, and the Perseus-Pisces supercluster . The exact extent and the boundaries of these super galaxy clusters are currently only approximately known.

Laniakea appears to be stretching in the direction of the Shapley supercluster, so one suggests that both Shapley and Laniakea are together part of an even larger structure.

designation

The Tully et al. The chosen name "Laniakea" comes from Hawaiian and means 'immeasurable sky', consisting of Lani for 'sky' and akea for 'immeasurable' / 'huge'.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Corrected the position of the Milky Way in the universe: Our wonderful star cluster. In: Spiegel Online . September 3, 2014, accessed April 29, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Cosmology: Permit: The supercluster Laniakea. In: Spektrum.de . September 3, 2014, accessed April 29, 2016 .
  3. ^ R. Brent Tully, Hélène Courtois, Yehuda Hoffman, Daniel Pomarède: The Laniakea supercluster of galaxies . In: Nature . tape 513 , no. 7516 , September 4, 2014, p. 71–73 , doi : 10.1038 / nature13674 (English, nature.com ).
  4. ↑ Irene Klotz: New map shows Milky Way lives in Laniakea galaxy complex. Reuters , September 3, 2014, accessed October 24, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Laniakea: Our Home Supercluster. In: skyandtelescope.com. Sky & Telescope , September 3, 2014, accessed April 29, 2016 (American English).