Supercluster

This article is about astronomy. For other uses, see Supercluster (disambiguation).

A map of the Superclusters and voids nearest to Earth

Superclusters are large groups of smaller galaxy clusters or galaxy groups and are among the largest known structures of the cosmos. The Milky Way is in the Local Group of galaxies, which in turn is in the Laniakea Supercluster. This supercluster spans over 500 million light years, while the Local Group spans over 10 million light years. The number of superclusters in the observable universe is estimated to 10 million.

Galaxies are grouped into clusters instead of being dispersed randomly. Clusters of galaxies are grouped together to form superclusters. Typically, superclusters contain dozens of individual clusters throughout an area of space about 150 million lightyears across. Unlike clusters, superclusters are not bound together by gravity. They are all shifting away from each other due to the Hubble flow.

Our galaxy falls within the Local Group, which is a poor and irregular cluster of galaxies. Poor clusters may contain only a few dozen galaxies as compared to rich clusters that can contain hundreds or even thousands. The Local Group is near the Local Supercluster (also known as the Virgo Supercluster) which has a diameter of 100 million lightyears. The Local Supercluster contains a total of about 10¹⁵ times the mass of the Sun.

The biggest cluster in the local universe is called the Great Attractor. Its gravity is so strong that the Local Supercluster, including the Milky Way, is moving in a direction towards it at a rate of several hundred kilometers per second. The biggest supercluster outside of the local universe is the Perseus-Pegasus Filament. It contains the Perseus supercluster and it spans about a billion light years. From what we currently know, it is the largest structure in the universe. This supercluster was discovered by David Batuski and Jack Burns of New Mexico State University.

Distribution: cosmic voids and sheets

Research has been done to try to understand the way in which superclusters are arranged in space. Maps are used to display the positions of 1.6 million galaxies. Three-dimensional maps are used to further understand the positions of these superclusters. In order to map them three-dimensionally, the position of the galaxy in the sky as well as the galaxy's redshift are used for calculation. The galaxy's redshift is used with the Hubble Law in order to determine its position in three-dimensional space.

It was discovered from those maps that superclusters of galaxies are not spread uniformly across the universe but they seem to lie along filaments. Maps reveal huge voids where there are extremely few galaxies. Some dim galaxies or hydrogen clouds can be found in some voids, but most galaxies are found in sheets between the voids. The voids themselves are often spherical but the superclusters are not. They can range from being 100 million to 400 million lightyears in diameter.The pattern of sheets and voids contains information about how galaxy clusters formed in the early universe.

There is a sponge analogy used often that compares a sponge to the pattern of clusters of galaxies in the universe – the holes are the voids and the other parts are the locations of the superclusters.

Existence

The Abell 901/902 supercluster is located a little over two billion light-years from Earth.

The existence of superclusters indicates that the galaxies in our Universe are not uniformly distributed; most of them are drawn together in groups and clusters, with groups containing up to some dozens of galaxies and clusters up to several thousand galaxies. Those groups and clusters and additional isolated galaxies in turn form even larger structures called superclusters.

Their existence was first postulated by George Abell in his 1958 Abell catalogue of galaxy clusters. He called them "second-order clusters", or clusters of clusters.

Superclusters form massive structures of galaxies, called "filaments", "supercluster complexes", "walls" or "sheets", that may span between several hundred million light-years to 10 billion light-years, covering more than 5% of the observable universe. Observations of superclusters likely tell us something about the initial condition of the universe when these superclusters were created. The directions of the rotational axes of galaxies within superclusters may also give us insight and information into the early formation process of galaxies in the history of the Universe.

Interspersed among superclusters are large voids of space in which few galaxies exist. Superclusters are frequently subdivided into groups of clusters called galaxy clouds.

List of superclusters

Nearby superclusters

Galaxy supercluster	Data	Notes
Laniakea Supercluster	z = 0.000 Length = 153 Mpc (500 million light years)	The Laniakea Supercluster is the supercluster that contains the Virgo Cluster, Local Group, and by extension on the latter, our galaxy; the Milky Way.
Virgo Supercluster	z= 0.000 Length = 33 Mpc (110 million light years)	It contains the Local Group with our galaxy, the Milky Way. It also contains the Virgo Cluster near its center, and is sometimes called the Local Supercluster. It is thought to contain over 47,000 galaxies. In 2014, the newly announced Laniakea Supercluster subsumed the Virgo Supercluster, which became a component of the new supercluster.
Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster		It is composed of two lobes, sometimes also referred to as superclusters, or sometimes the entire supercluster is referred to by these other two names Hydra Supercluster Centaurus Supercluster In 2014, the newly announced Laniakea Supercluster subsumed the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster, which became a component of the new supercluster.
Perseus-Pisces Supercluster
Pavo-Indus Supercluster		In 2014, the newly announced Laniakea Supercluster subsumed the Pavo-Indus Supercluster, which became a component of the new supercluster.
Coma Supercluster		Forms most of the CfA Homunculus, the center of the CfA2 Great Wall galaxy filament
Sculptor Superclusters		SCl 9
Hercules Superclusters		SCl 160
Leo Supercluster		SCl 93
Ophiuchus Supercluster	17h 10m −22° cz=8500–9000 km/s (centre) 18 Mpc x 26 Mpc	Forming the far wall of the Ophiuchus Void, it may be connected in a filament, with the Pavo-Indus-Telescopium Supercluster and the Hercules Supercluster. This supercluster is centered on the cD cluster Ophiuchus Cluster, and has at least two more galaxy clusters, four more galaxy groups, several field galaxies, as members.
Shapley Supercluster	z=0.046.(650 Mly away)	The second supercluster found, after the Local Supercluster.

Distant superclusters

Galaxy supercluster	Data	Notes
Pisces-Cetus Supercluster
Boötes Supercluster		SCl 138
Horologium Supercluster	z=0.063 (700 Mly) Length = 550 Mly	The entire supercluster is referred to as the Horologium-Reticulum Supercluster
Corona Borealis Supercluster	z=0.07
Columba Supercluster
Aquarius Supercluster
Aquarius B Supercluster
Aquarius-Capricornus Supercluster
Aquarius-Cetus Supercluster
Bootes A Supercluster
Caelum Supercluster		SCl 59
Draco Supercluster
Draco-Ursa Major Supercluster
Fornax-Eridanus Supercluster
Grus Supercluster
Leo A Supercluster
Leo-Sextans Supercluster
Leo-Virgo Supercluster		SCl 107
Microscopium Supercluster		SCl 174
Pegasus-Pisces Supercluster		SCl 3
Perseus-Pisces Supercluster		SCl 40
Pisces-Aries Supercluster
Ursa Majoris Supercluster
Virgo-Coma Supercluster		SCl 111

Far distant superclusters

Galaxy supercluster	Data	Notes
Lynx Supercluster	z=1.27	Discovered in 1999 (as ClG J0848+4453, a name now used to describe the western cluster, with ClG J0849+4452 being the eastern one), it contains at least two clusters RXJ 0848.9+4452 (z=1.26) and RXJ 0848.6+4453 (z=1.27) . At the time of discovery, it became the most distant known supercluster. Additionally, seven smaller groups of galaxies are associated with the supercluster.
SCL @ 1338+27 at z=1.1	z=1.1 Length=70Mpc	A rich supercluster with several galaxy clusters was discovered around an unusual concentration of 23 QSOs at z=1.1 in 2001. The size of the complex of clusters may indicate a wall of galaxies exists there, instead of a single supercluster. The size discovered approaches the size of the CfA2 Great Wall filament. At the time of the discovery, it was the largest and most distant supercluster beyond z=0.5
SCL @ 1604+43 at z=0.9	z=0.91	This supercluster at the time of its discovery was the largest supercluster found so deep into space, in 2000. It consisted of two known rich clusters and one newly discovered cluster as a result of the study that discovered it. The then known clusters were Cl 1604+4304 (z=0.897) and Cl 1604+4321 (z=0.924), which then known to have 21 and 42 known galaxies respectively. The then newly discovered cluster was located at 16h 04m 25.7s, +43° 14′ 44.7″
SCL @ 0018+16 at z=0.54 in SA26	z=0.54	This supercluster lies around radio galaxy 54W084C (z=0.544) and is composed of at least three large clusters, CL 0016+16 (z=0.5455), RX J0018.3+1618 (z=0.5506), RX J0018.8+1602 .
MS 0302+17	z=0.42 Length=6Mpc	This supercluster has at least three member clusters, the eastern cluster CL 0303+1706, southern cluster MS 0302+1659 and northern cluster MS 0302+1717.

Diagram

A diagram of Earth's location in the observable Universe and neighbouring superclusters of galaxies. (Click here for smaller image.)

See also

• Galaxy
• Galaxy cloud
• Galaxy cluster
• Galaxy filament
• Galaxy group
• Illustris project
• Large-scale structure of the cosmos

External links

• Overview of local superclusters
• The Nearest Superclusters
• Universe family tree: Supercluster
• Superclusters - Large Scale Structures