A new cosmic map shows how our Milky Way galaxy is just a tiny part of a massive galaxy supercluster that scientists have dubbed ‘Laniakea’.

The Milky Way galaxy resides on the outskirts of a massive, previously unknown galaxy super-cluster scientists have named Laniakea, from Hawaiian words for “immeasurable heaven.” The discovery, reported in the journal Nature on Sept 3, stems from a new mapping technique that combines not only the distances between more than 8,000 nearby galaxies, but also their relative motions.

The technique enables astronomers for the first time to clearly delineate where one super-cluster of galaxies ends and another gravitationally bound super-cluster structure begins. The new maps show the Milky Way galaxy, along with the Virgo cluster and some 100,000 other galaxies, are gravitationally sailing in the same gigantic cosmic pool, named Laniakea.

The super-cluster spans some 520 million light-years in diametre. Scientists previously believed the Milky Way galaxy, which is where Earth and the rest of the solar system reside, was part of a cluster measuring about 100 million light-years in diameter. The new study shows that structure is just an appendage of the larger Laniakea.

Full Report: http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/Features/2014/09/06/How-tiny-we-are-Milky-Way-dwarfed-by-galaxy-supercluster-Laniakea/

Bubblecar said:

A new cosmic map shows how our Milky Way galaxy is just a tiny part of a massive galaxy supercluster that scientists have dubbed ‘Laniakea’.

The Milky Way galaxy resides on the outskirts of a massive, previously unknown galaxy super-cluster scientists have named Laniakea, from Hawaiian words for “immeasurable heaven.” The discovery, reported in the journal Nature on Sept 3, stems from a new mapping technique that combines not only the distances between more than 8,000 nearby galaxies, but also their relative motions.

The technique enables astronomers for the first time to clearly delineate where one super-cluster of galaxies ends and another gravitationally bound super-cluster structure begins. The new maps show the Milky Way galaxy, along with the Virgo cluster and some 100,000 other galaxies, are gravitationally sailing in the same gigantic cosmic pool, named Laniakea.

The super-cluster spans some 520 million light-years in diametre. Scientists previously believed the Milky Way galaxy, which is where Earth and the rest of the solar system reside, was part of a cluster measuring about 100 million light-years in diameter. The new study shows that structure is just an appendage of the larger Laniakea.

Full Report: http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/Features/2014/09/06/How-tiny-we-are-Milky-Way-dwarfed-by-galaxy-supercluster-Laniakea/

And God made it all when not worried about the sin on Earth.

Spock

“You are here”

points

“Simple Logic”

The whole thing relies of a database giving the velocities of 8,000 galaxies. Would I be right in thinking that these velocities were determined using either Cepheid variables or Type 1a supernovae or both? It’s quite clear that Doppler shift alone won’t suffice to give sufficiently accurate calculations for this sort of calculation, unless perhaps the Tully-Fisher relationship between luminosity and rotation speed is invoked.

Aha, found the database COSMICFLOWS-2: THE DATA

“Cosmicflows-2 is a compilation of distances and peculiar velocities for over 8000 galaxies. Numerically the largest contributions come from the luminosity-line width correlation for spirals, the Tully-Fisher relation (TFR), and the related fundamental plane relation for E/S0 systems, but over 1000 distances are contributed by methods that provide more accurate individual distances: Cepheid, tip of the red giant branch (TRGB), surface brightness fluctuation, Type Ia supernova, and several miscellaneous but accurate procedures.”