Laniakea | What does our Supercluster of Universes Hide?
Have you ever taken the time to contemplate the architecture of the supercluster of galaxies in which we live?
2023-08-28 19:00:00 - Wondody Odysseys
We live on Earth. Earth is the third planet from the Sun. It belongs to the solar system.
The solar system lies within the Milky Way, which in turn lies within the Local Group, which contains over fifty galaxies and extends over some 10 million light-years.
The Local Group lies on the periphery of the Virgo Cluster, a cluster containing over a thousand galaxies 60 million light-years away.
It represents a small part of the Local Supercluster, a region around 100 million light-years across containing several hundred galaxy clusters.
A galaxy is a vast collection of gravitationally-bound stars, dust and interstellar gas.
Galaxies come in all shapes and sizes, from 2,000 to 500,000 light-years in diameter. Until recently, the Local Supercluster was considered the last line of our cosmic address. But today, we know that we belong to a collection of several galaxy clusters that are gravitationally linked to each other.
Laniakea is the supercluster in which our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and thousands of other galaxies lie, stretching over a diameter of around 520 million light-years.
How can we go from a simple grouping of stars to a gigantic structure over 500 million light-years in diameter?
And what does this Laniakea supercluster look like?