A New Supercluster of Galaxies is Discovered

Friends just call me Ross · November 26, 2016

10 Million (and one) SUPERCLUSTERS OF GALAXIES...and still counting!

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A team of astronomers from South Africa, the Netherlands, Germany, and Australia announced on November 16, 2016 the discovery of a previously unknown major concentration of galaxies in direction to the southern constellation Vela. They’ve dubbed it the Vela supercluster, and it’s one of perhaps 10 million superclusters of galaxies – vast collections of galaxies – the largest structures we know in the universe. The gravitational attraction from this newly found large mass concentration in our cosmic neighborhood might have an important effect on the motion of our Local Group of galaxies including the Milky Way, these astronomers said. It might also help to explain the direction and amplitude of our Local Group’s peculiar velocity with respect to the Cosmic Microwave Background.

Generally speaking, superclusters are vast clusters of galaxies spanning up to 200 million light-years across the sky. They’re not isolated in space but exist together with many other smaller concentrations of galaxies, together forming parts of extensive walls of galaxies surrounding large voids in what astronomers call the cosmic web.

Superclusters aren’t just big; they are also massive, meaning they have a powerful gravitational pull. They are the most massive known structures in our universe. A nearby supercluster famous for its great mass is the Shapley Supercluster, some 650 million light-years away containing two dozens of massive X-ray clusters for which thousands of galaxy velocities have been measured. It is believed to be the largest of its kind in our cosmic neighborhood.

The new Vela supercluster is slightly farther away (800 million light-years) and covers an even larger sky area than Shapley. The Vela supercluster had gone unnoticed due to its location behind the plane of the Milky Way, where dust and stars obscure background galaxies.

The team’s results suggest the Vela supercluster might be as massive as Shapley, which indicates that its influence on local bulk flows is comparable to that of Shapley.

http://earthsky.org/space/discover-major-vela-supercluster-nov-2016

Where is our galaxy in the universe?

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We know where our galaxy is located – but only locally speaking.

The Milky Way galaxy is one of a few dozen galaxies known as the Local Group.

Astronomers have discovered that our Local Group is on the outskirts of a giant cluster of several thousand galaxies, which astronomers call the Virgo Cluster.

We also know of an irregular supercluster of galaxies, which contains the Virgo Cluster, which in turn contains our Local Group, which in turn contains our Milky Way galaxy and the nearby and Andromeda galaxy. At least 100 galaxy groups and clusters are located within this Virgo Supercluster. Its diameter is thought to be about 110 million light-years.

Yet the Virgo Supercluster is one of millions of superclusters in the observable universe.

To our knowledge, there’s no center of the universe – and no edge. So – beyond our Local Group, the Virgo Cluster and the Virgo Supercluster – it gets tougher to describe our galaxy’s location relative to any special or fixed reference points in space.

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A map of the universe within 500 million light years. The new Vela supercluster is just outside this range, and so is Shapley, but you can see most of the other major galaxy superclusters surrounding our Virgo supercluster. These superclusters form parts of extensive walls of galaxies surrounding large voids in space, together making up what astronomers call the cosmic web. Image via atlasoftheuniverse.com.

My head hurts just thinking about the limitlessness of Jehovah's physical universe.

Humbling stuff, indeed!

I truly am in awe!

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“...Jehovah the true God, the great and awe-inspiring One..." --Dan. 9:4b

"For Jehovah the Most High is awe-inspiring..." --Psalm 47:2

With an ever-growing appreciation for Jehovah's abilities...and, for certain Scriptures:

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“Raise your eyes high up and see. Who has created these things? It is the One who is bringing forth the army of them even by number, all of whom he calls even by name.” -- Isaiah 40:26

“You are worthy, Jehovah our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they came into existence and were created.” --Rev. 4:11

"Do you know the laws governing the heavens,
Or can you impose their authority on the earth?"--Job 38:33