The Great Attractor: Difference between revisions

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The Great Attractor is an apparent gravitational anomaly in intergalactic space at the center of the local Laniakea Supercluster, in which the Milky Way is located, in the so-called Zone of Avoidance that is very difficult to observe in visible wavelengths due to the obscuring effects of our own galactic plane. This anomaly suggests a localized concentration of mass thousands of times more massive than the Milky Way.
[[File:Gran_Atractor.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Hubble Telescope image of the region of the sky where the Great Attractor was located.]][[The Great Attractor]] was an apparent gravitational anomaly in intergalactic space at the center of the local Laniakea Supercluster, in which the Milky Way was located, in the so-called Zone of Avoidance that was very difficult to observe in visible wavelengths due to the obscuring effects of our own galactic plane. This anomaly suggested a localized concentration of mass thousands of times more massive than the Milky Way.


The anomaly is observable by its effect on the motion of galaxies and their associated clusters over a region hundreds of millions of light-years across. These galaxies are all redshifted, in accordance with the Hubble Flow, indicating that they are receding relative to us and to each other, but the variations in their redshift are sufficient to reveal the existence of the anomaly. The variations in their redshifts are known as peculiar velocities, and cover a range from about +700 km/s to −700 km/s, depending on the angular deviation from the direction to the Great Attractor.
The anomaly was observable by its effect on the motion of galaxies and their associated clusters over a region hundreds of millions of light-years across. These galaxies were all redshifted, in accordance with the Hubble Flow, indicating that they were receding relative to the Sol System and to each other, but the variations in their redshift were sufficient to reveal the existence of the anomaly. The variations in their redshifts were known as peculiar velocities, and covered a range from about +700 km/s to −700 km/s, depending on the angular deviation from the direction to [[the Great Attractor]].


The Great Attractor is moving towards the Shapley Supercluster. Recent astronomical studies by a team of South African astrophysicists revealed a supercluster of galaxies, termed the Vela Supercluster, in the Great Attractor's theorized location.
[[The Great Attractor]] was moving towards the Shapley Supercluster. In the beginning of the 21st century, astronomical studies by a team of South African astrophysicists revealed a supercluster of galaxies, termed the Vela Supercluster, in [[the Great Attractor]]'s theorized location.
 
==Location==
 
The first indications of a deviation from uniform expansion of the universe were reported in 1973 and again in 1978. The location of the Great Attractor was finally determined in 1986: it is situated at a distance of somewhere between 150 and 250 Mly (million light years) (47–79 Mpc) (the latter being the most recent estimate) away from the Milky Way, in the direction of the constellations Triangulum Australe (The Southern Triangle) and Norma (The Carpenter’s Square). While objects in that direction lie in the Zone of Avoidance (the part of the night sky obscured by the [[Milky Way Galaxy|Milky Way galaxy]]) and are thus difficult to study with visible wavelengths, X-ray observations have revealed that the region of space is dominated by the Norma cluster (ACO 3627), a massive cluster of galaxies containing a preponderance of large, old galaxies, many of which are colliding with their neighbours and radiating large amounts of radio waves.

Revision as of 11:33, 11 September 2019

Hubble Telescope image of the region of the sky where the Great Attractor was located.

The Great Attractor was an apparent gravitational anomaly in intergalactic space at the center of the local Laniakea Supercluster, in which the Milky Way was located, in the so-called Zone of Avoidance that was very difficult to observe in visible wavelengths due to the obscuring effects of our own galactic plane. This anomaly suggested a localized concentration of mass thousands of times more massive than the Milky Way.

The anomaly was observable by its effect on the motion of galaxies and their associated clusters over a region hundreds of millions of light-years across. These galaxies were all redshifted, in accordance with the Hubble Flow, indicating that they were receding relative to the Sol System and to each other, but the variations in their redshift were sufficient to reveal the existence of the anomaly. The variations in their redshifts were known as peculiar velocities, and covered a range from about +700 km/s to −700 km/s, depending on the angular deviation from the direction to the Great Attractor.

The Great Attractor was moving towards the Shapley Supercluster. In the beginning of the 21st century, astronomical studies by a team of South African astrophysicists revealed a supercluster of galaxies, termed the Vela Supercluster, in the Great Attractor's theorized location.

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