Journal
NATURE
Volume 513, Issue 7516, Pages 71-+Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/nature13674
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- US National Science Foundation [AST09-08846]
- Space Telescope Science Institute for observing time with Hubble Space Telescope
- Jet Propulsion Lab for observations with Spitzer Space Telescope
- NASA [NNX12AE70G]
- Israel Science Foundation [1013/12]
- Lyon Institute of Origins [ANR-10-LABX-66]
- CNRS [PICS-06233]
- NASA [NNX12AE70G, 75075] Funding Source: Federal RePORTER
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Galaxies congregate in clusters and along filaments, and are missing from large regions referred to as voids. These structures are seen in maps derived from spectroscopic surveys(1,2) that reveal networks of structure that are interconnected with no clear boundaries. Extended regions with a high concentration of galaxies are called 'superclusters', although this term is not precise. There is, however, another way to analyse the structure. If the distance to each galaxy from Earth is directly measured, then the peculiar velocity can be derived from the subtraction of the mean cosmic expansion, the product of distance times the Hubble constant, from observed velocity. The peculiar velocity is the line-of-sight departure from the cosmic expansion and arises from gravitational perturbations; a map of peculiar velocities can be translated into a map of the distribution of matter(3). Here we report a map of structure made using a catalogue of peculiar velocities. We find locations where peculiar velocity flows diverge, as water does at watershed divides, and we trace the surface of divergent points that surrounds us. Within the volume enclosed by this surface, the motions of galaxies are inward after removal of the mean cosmic expansion and long range flows. We define a supercluster to be the volume within such a surface, and so we are defining the extent of our home supercluster, which we call Laniakea.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available