If you want to pinpoint your place in the Universe, start with your cosmic address. You live on Earth->Solar System->Milky Way Galaxy->Local Cluster->Virgo Cluster->Virgo Supercluster->Laniakea. Thanks to new deep sky surveys, astronomers now think all those places are part of an even bigger cosmic structure in the \u201cneighborhood\u201d called The Shapley Concentration. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Astronomers refer to the Shapley Concentration as a \u201cbasin of attraction\u201d. That\u2019s a region loaded with mass that acts as an \u201cattractor\u201d. It\u2019s a region containing many clusters and groups of galaxies and comprises the greatest concentration of matter in the local Universe. All those galaxies, plus dark matter, lend their gravitational influence to the Concentration. There are many of these basins in the Universe, including Laniakea. Astronomers are working to survey them more precisely, which should help provide a more precise map of the largest structures in the Universe.<\/p>\n One group, led by astronomer R. Brent Tully of the University of Hawai\u2019i measured the motions of some 56,000 galaxies to understand these basins and their distribution in space. \u201cOur universe is like a giant web, with galaxies lying along filaments and clustering at nodes where gravitational forces pull them together,\u201d said Tully. \u201cJust as water flows within watersheds, galaxies flow within cosmic basins of attraction. The discovery of these larger basins could fundamentally change our understanding of cosmic structure.\u201d<\/p>\n Tully\u2019s team is called CosmicFlows and they study the motions through space of those distant galaxies. The team\u2019s \u201credshift\u201d surveys revealed a possible shift in the size and scale of our local galactic basin of attraction. We already know that we \u201clive\u201d in Laniakea, which is about 500 million light-years across. However, the motions of other clusters indicate there\u2019s a larger \u201cattractor\u201d directing the cluster flow. The CosmicFlows data suggest that we could be part of the Shapley Concentration, which could be 10 times the volume of Laniakea. It\u2019s about half the volume of the largest structure in space, known as \u201cthe Great Wall\u201d, which is a string of galaxies stretching across 1.4 billion light-years.<\/p>\n The Shapley Concentration was first observed by astronomer Harlow Shapley in the 1930s as a \u201ccloud\u201d in the constellation Centaurus. This supercluster appears along the direction of motion of the Local Group of galaxies (where we live). Because of that, scientists speculated that it could be influencing our galaxy\u2019s peculiar motion. Interestingly, the Virgo Supercluster (and the Local Group and Milky Way Galaxy) appears to be moving toward the Shapley Concentration. The surveys that Tully and others are doing should confirm that motion toward whatever is attracting them.<\/p>\n Where do these basins of attraction come from? In one sense, they\u2019re as old as the Universe and its cosmic web of matter that Tully references. The seeds for the web and those basins of attraction were planted some 13.8 billion years ago. After the Big Bang, the infant Universe was in a hot dense state. As it expanded and cooled, the density of matter started to fluctuate. There were tiny differences in those density fluctuations. Think of them as the earliest \u201cseeds\u201d of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and even vaster structures that we see in today\u2019s Universe.<\/p>\n As astronomers survey the sky, they find evidence for all those different structures. Now, they have to explain them. The idea that the Shapley Concentration is the large basin that our Laniakea belongs to means that current cosmological models don\u2019t quite explain its existence.<\/p>\n \u201cThis discovery presents a challenge: our cosmic surveys may not yet be large enough to map the full extent of these immense basins,\u201d said UH astronomer Ehsan Kourkchi. \u201cWe are still gazing through giant eyes, but even these eyes may not be big enough to capture the full picture of our universe.\u201d<\/p>\n The main actor in all these galaxies, clusters, and superclusters, is gravity. The more mass, the more gravity influences motions and matter distribution. For these basins of attraction, Tully\u2019s research team examined their impact on galaxy motions in the region. The basins exert a sort of \u201ctug of war\u201d on galaxies that lie between them. That influences their motions. In particular, redshift surveys like Tully\u2019s team is doing will map the radial motion (along the line of sight), velocities (how fast they\u2019re moving), and other related motions. By mapping the velocities of galaxies throughout our local Universe, the team can define the region of space where each supercluster dominates.<\/p>\n Of course, these motions are tricky to define. That\u2019s why the team does different types of measurements. They aren\u2019t mapping just the luminous material in galaxies. They also have to take into account the inferred existence of dark matter. There are other complications as well. For example, not all galaxies are the same\u2014that is, they differ in their shapes (morphology) and matter density. Astronomers can get around this by measuring something called \u201cgalaxy peculiar velocity\u201d. That\u2019s the difference between its actual velocity and the expected \u201cHubble flow\u201d velocity (which reflects gravitational interactions between galaxies).<\/p>\n The results of the Tully team surveys should provide ever more precise 3D maps of these regions of space. That includes their structures as well as their motions and velocities. Those maps, in turn, should give greater insight into the distribution of all matter (including cold dark matter) throughout the Universe.<\/p>\n Identification of Basins of Attraction in the Local Universe (journal)Cosmic Flows and Mapping Structures<\/h3>\n
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Exploring Ever-larger Structures in the Universe<\/h3>\n
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Measuring the Attractors<\/h3>\n
For More Information<\/h4>\n
Identification of Basins of Attraction in the Local Universe (arXiv pdf)
The Shapley Supercluster: the Largest Matter Concentration in the Local Universe (PDF)<\/p>\nLike this:<\/h3>\n