The Southern Supercluster Strand is a

galaxy filament In cosmology, galaxy filaments are the largest known structures in the universe, consisting of walls of galactic superclusters. These massive, thread-like formations can commonly reach 50 to 80 megaparsecs ()—with the largest found to date b ...

that incompasses the

Southern Supercluster The Southern Supercluster is a nearby supercluster located around in the constellations of Cetus, Fornax, Eridanus (constellation), Eridanus, Horologium (constellation), Horologium, and Dorado. It was first identified in 1953 by Gérard de Vaucou ...

and the

Telescopium−Grus Cloud The Telescopium−Grus Cloud is a galaxy filament in the constellations of Pavo, Indus, and Telescopium. It was first defined by astronomer R. Brent Tully, Brent Tully in his book ''The Nearby Galaxies Atlas'' and its companion book ''The Nearby ...

. In 2014, it was announced that the Southern Supercluster Strand is a lobe in a greater supercluster, Laniakea, that is centered on the

Great Attractor The Great Attractor is a region of gravitational attraction in intergalactic space and the apparent central gravitational point of the Laniakea Supercluster of galaxies that includes the Milky Way galaxy, as well as about 100,000 other galaxi ...

. This would mean that the Southern Supercluster Strand's components, the

and the

would be part of this new supercluster. The

Virgo Supercluster The Local Supercluster (LSC or LS), or Virgo Supercluster is a formerly defined supercluster containing the Virgo Cluster and Local Group, which itself contains the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, as well as others. At least 100 galaxy group ...

would also be part of this greater supercluster, thus becoming the local supercluster.

Physical characteristics

The Southern Supercluster Strand is a

that emerges from the

Centaurus Cluster The Centaurus Cluster (A3526) is a cluster of hundreds of galaxies, located approximately 170 million light-years away in the Centaurus constellation. The brightest member galaxy is the elliptical galaxy NGC 4696 (~11m). The Centaurus clust ...

. The filament then branches off into two forks, SSCa, and SSCb, also known as the

and the

respectively. The

is a long major chain of galaxies, consisting of the major

Dorado Dorado (, ) is a constellation in the Southern Sky. It was named in the late 16th century and is now one of the 88 modern constellations. Its name refers to the mahi-mahi (''Coryphaena hippurus''), which is known as ''dorado'' ("golden") in Sp ...

Fornax Fornax () is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere, partly ringed by the celestial river Eridanus (constellation), Eridanus. Its name is Latin for furnace. It was named by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1756. Forna ...

, and Eridanus clusters while the

is a low density

, with no central concentration of galaxies. The

along with the Pavo-Indus Supercluster form parts of a wall bounding the

Local Void The Local Void is a vast, Void (astronomy), empty region of Interstellar medium, space, lying adjacent to the Local Group. Discovered by R. Brent Tully, Brent Tully and J. Richard Fisher, Rick Fisher in 1987, the Local Void is now known to be c ...

. Likewise, both structures along with the

also form a wall bounding the

Sculptor Void Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

. The Southern Supercluster Srand extends all the way to the

Perseus–Pisces Supercluster The Perseus–Pisces Supercluster (SCl 40) is one of the largest known structures in the universe. Even at a distance of 250 million light-years, this chain of galaxy clusters extends more than 40° across the northern winter sky. The Perseus– ...

. The Southern Supercluster Strand, along with the Centaurus–Puppis–PP filament, which contains the

Antila Wall Antila is a Finnish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * John Antila (1902-1969), American businessman and politician * Juho Erkki Antila (1856–1920), Finnish politician * Kirsi Antila (née The birth name is the name o ...

and both extend to the

, form a wall bounding the

Cetus-Aries Cloud

The Cetus-Aries Cloud, is a minor

filament The word filament, which is descended from Latin ''filum'' meaning " thread", is used in English for a variety of thread-like structures, including: Astronomy * Galaxy filament, the largest known cosmic structures in the universe * Solar filament ...

that was identified and described in 1987 by astronomer

Brent Tully Richard Brent Tully (born March 9, 1943) is a Canadian-born American astronomer at the Institute for Astronomy in Honolulu, Hawaii. Born in Toronto, Ontario, and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Tully's specialty is the astrophysics of ga ...

with colleague Richard Fisher in his book ''The Nearby Galaxies Atlas,'' and connects the

with the

List of Groups

Below is a list of groups in the Cetus-Aries Cloud according to astronomer

. : Column 1: The name of the group in Tully's NBGC : Column 2: The right ascension for epoch 2000. : Column 3: The declination for epoch 2000. : Column 4: Number of members of the group. : Column 5: Brightest member of the group : Column 6: Redshift of the group. : Column 7: Distance of the group (Millions of light-years). : Column 8: Cross-Identifications with other catalogs. (Sources for data columns:)

Observational history

Before the Southern Supercluster Strand was identified, its two major components were already known: the

which was discovered in 1953 by astronomer

Gérard de Vaucouleurs Gérard Henri de Vaucouleurs (25 April 1918 – 7 October 1995) was a French astronomer best known for his studies of galaxies. Life and career Gérard de Vaucouleurs was born on April 25, 1918 in Paris, he took the maiden name of his mother ...

, and the

which was discovered by astronomer

with colleague Richard Fisher in 1987. In 1987, astronomer

with colleague Richard Fisher discovered and described the Cetus-Aries Cloud, a minor

that connects the

with the

''.'' In 1992, Fouque et al. grouped the Cetus-Aries Cloud, also known as cloud 52 in the book ''The Nearby Galaxies Atlas'' along with the Southern Supercluster's three major clusters, the

, Eridanus, and Dorado clusters (clouds 51 and 53). In 2013, Courtois et al. discovered based on the distribution of galaxies inferred from their

redshifts In physics, a redshift is an increase in the wavelength, and corresponding decrease in the frequency and photon energy, of electromagnetic radiation (such as light). The opposite change, a decrease in wavelength and increase in frequency and e ...

the Southern Supercluster Strand, which branches off into two forks that emerge from the

. These two forks were designated SSCa and SSCb, also known as the

and the

. In 2017, Pomarède et al. revealed that the Southern Supercluster strand along with another filament known as the Antlia Strand, extend all the way to the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southern Supercluster Galaxy filaments Large-scale structure of the cosmos Astronomical objects discovered in 2013 Southern Supercluster Southern Supercluster Strand

Physical characteristics

Cetus-Aries Cloud

List of Groups

Observational history

See also

References