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Explanation: What does our region of the Universe look like? Since galaxies are so spread out over the sky, and since our Milky Way Galaxy blocks part of the distant sky, it has been hard to tell. A new map has been made, however, using large-scale galaxy motions to infer what massive objects must be gravitating in the nearby universe. The featured map, spanning over 600 million light years on a side, shows that our Milky Way Galaxy is on the edge of the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies, which is connected to the Great Attractor -- an even larger grouping of galaxies. Also nearby are the massive Coma Cluster and the extensive Perseus-Pisces Supercluster. Conversely, we are also on the edge of huge region nearly empty of galaxies known as the Local Void. The repulsive push by the Local Void combined with the gravitational pull toward the elevated galaxy density on the other side of the sky explains part of the mysteriously high speed our Galaxy has relative to the cosmic microwave background -- but not all. To explore the local universe yourself, as determined by Cosmicflows-3, you are invited to zoom in and spin around this interactive 3D visualization.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: galaxies - universe
Publications with words: galaxies - universe
See also:
- APOD: 2024 December 31 Á The Twisted Disk of NGC 4753
- APOD: 2024 December 18 Á NGC 660: Polar Ring Galaxy
- APOD: 2024 December 1 Á Cosmic Latte: The Average Color of the Universe
- APOD: 2024 October 20 Á Dark Matter in a Simulated Universe
- Stellar Streams in the Local Universe
- APOD: 2024 July 1 Á Time Spiral
- APOD: 2024 April 15 Á The Cigar Galaxy from Hubble and Webb