The Milky Way's place in the universe just got much bigger: It's part of a cosmic superstructure beyond our wildest expe [View all]

The Milky Way’s place in the universe just got much bigger: It’s part of a cosmic superstructure beyond our wildest expectations



New data suggests our galaxy may reside in an immense basin of gravitational attraction far larger than Laniākea.

Tibi PuiubyTibi Puiu October 8, 2024
Reading Time: 6 mins read
Edited and reviewed by Zoe Gordon

In the late 1930s, astronomer Harlow Shapley stared up at the sky and noticed something extraordinary — an enormous cloud of galaxies in the constellation Centaurus. It was a curiosity at the time, a shimmering patch of matter stretching across the depths of space. Today, we know this is no ordinary cluster but one of the largest known structures in the universe: the Shapley Concentration.

Recent work by astronomers at the University of Hawaii suggests that our own Milky Way may not be where we thought it was. Our galaxy, along with tens of thousands of others, might belong to a vast cosmic web linked to the Shapley Concentration, a region so enormous it cannot be comprehended.

“Our universe is like a giant web, with galaxies lying along filaments and clustering at nodes where gravitational forces pull them together,” said R. Brent Tully, the study’s lead researcher.

“Just 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.”

More:
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/milky-way-shapley-concentration/