Laniakea Supercluster

The name {{lang|haw|laniākea}} ({{IPA|haw|ˈlɐnijaːˈkɛjə|}}) means 'immense heaven' in Hawaiian, {{ety||lani|heaven||ākea|spacious, immeasurable}}. The name was suggested by Nawaʻa Napoleon, an associate professor of Hawaiian language at Kapiolani Community College.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/mmg_disp.jsp?med_id=79249|title=Multimedia Gallery – | NSF – National Science Foundation}} The name honors Polynesian navigators, who used knowledge of the sky to navigate the Pacific Ocean.{{Cite web|title=Astronomers define boundaries of our home supercluster and name it Laniakea {{!}} EarthSky.org|url=https://earthsky.org/space/laniakea-is-the-new-name-for-our-home-supercluster-of-galaxies|access-date=2020-09-06|website=earthsky.org|date=3 September 2014|language=en-US}}

File:Nearby Superclusters.webm

The Laniakea Supercluster encompasses approximately 100,000 galaxies stretched out over {{convert|160|Mpc|e6ly|abbr=unit|lk=on}}. It has the approximate mass of 10¹⁷ solar masses, or 100,000 times that of our galaxy, which is almost the same as that of the Horologium Supercluster. It consists of four subparts, which were known previously as separate superclusters:

• Virgo Supercluster, the part in which the Milky Way resides.
• Hydra–Centaurus Supercluster
• the Great Attractor, Laniakea's central gravitational point near Norma
• Antlia Wall, known as Hydra Supercluster
• Centaurus Supercluster
• Pavo–Indus Supercluster
• Southern Supercluster, including Fornax Cluster (S373), Dorado and Eridanus clouds.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4613-9356-6_65 |last=Mitra |first=Shyamal |title=The World of Galaxies |chapter=A Study of the Southern Supercluster |date=1989 |publisher=Springer |location=New York, NY. |pages=426–427 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4613-9356-6_65 |isbn=978-1-4613-9358-0 |access-date=23 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180609021849/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4613-9356-6_65 |archive-date=9 June 2018}}

The most massive galaxy clusters of the Laniakea Supercluster are Virgo, Hydra, Centaurus, Abell 3565, Abell 3574, Abell 3521, Fornax, Eridanus, and Norma. The entire supercluster consists of approximately 300 to 500 known galaxy clusters and groups. The real number may be much larger because some of these are traversing the Zone of Avoidance, an area of the sky that is partially obscured by gas and dust from the Milky Way galaxy, making them essentially undetectable.

Superclusters are some of the universe's largest structures and have boundaries that are difficult to define, especially from the inside. Within a given supercluster, most galaxy motions will be directed inward, toward the center of mass. This gravitational focal point, in the case of Laniakea, is called the Great Attractor, and influences the motions of the Local Group of galaxies, where the Milky Way galaxy resides, and all others throughout the supercluster. Unlike its constituent clusters, Laniakea is not gravitationally bound and is projected to be torn apart by dark energy.

Although the confirmation of the existence of the Laniakea Supercluster emerged in 2014, early studies in the 1980s already suggested that several of the superclusters then known might be connected. For example, South African astronomer Tony Fairall stated in 1988 that redshifts suggested that the Virgo and Hydra–Centaurus superclusters may be connected.{{cite journal|last=Fairall|first=Anthony Patrick|date=1988|title=A redshift map of the Triangulum Australe-Ara region – Further indication that Centaurus and Pavo are one and the same supercluster|journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society|volume=230|issue=1|pages=69–77|bibcode=1988MNRAS.230...69F|doi=10.1093/mnras/230.1.69|doi-access=free}}

File:Laniakea.gif, with Laniakea shown in yellow]]

The neighboring superclusters to the Laniakea Supercluster are the Shapley Supercluster, Hercules Supercluster, Coma Supercluster, and Perseus–Pisces Supercluster. The edges of the superclusters and Laniakea were not clearly known at the time of Laniakea's definition. Since then, the study of the edges of the supercluster and of structures beyond them has substantially improved.{{Cite news|work=University of Hawaii News|title=Astronomers map massive structure beyond Laniakea Supercluster {{!}} University of Hawaiʻi System News|url=https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2020/07/10/laniakea-supercluster-mapping/|access-date=2020-09-10|language=en-US}}{{Cite journal|last1=Pomarède|first1=Daniel|last2=Tully|first2=R. Brent|last3=Graziani|first3=Romain|last4=Courtois|first4=Hélène M.|last5=Hoffman|first5=Yehuda|last6=Lezmy|first6=Jérémy|date=2020-07-01|title=Cosmicflows-3: The South Pole Wall|journal=The Astrophysical Journal|volume=897|issue=2|pages=133|doi=10.3847/1538-4357/ab9952|arxiv=2007.04414|bibcode=2020ApJ...897..133P|s2cid=220425419 |doi-access=free }}

Laniakea is itself a constituent part of the Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex, a galaxy filament.

{{div col||colwidth=30em}}

• Dipole repeller
• Galaxy cluster
• Galaxy filament
• Illustris project
• Local Void – nearest neighboring void
• Supercluster
• Void (astronomy)
• List of Abell clusters

{{div col end}}

{{reflist|30em|refs=

{{cite news |work= National Radio Astronomy Observatory |publisher= ScienceDaily |date= 3 September 2014 |url= https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140903133319.htm |title= Newly identified galactic supercluster is home to the Milky Way }}

{{cite web |work= Reuters |date= 2014-09-03 |url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-galaxies-idUSKBN0GY2C820140903 |author= Irene Klotz |title= New map shows Milky Way lives in Laniakea galaxy complex }}

{{cite news |journal= Nature |url= http://www.nature.com/news/earth-s-new-address-solar-system-milky-way-laniakea-1.15819 |title= Earth's new address: 'Solar System, Milky Way, Laniakea' |author= Elizabeth Gibney |date= 3 September 2014 |doi= 10.1038/nature.2014.15819 }}

{{cite news |last=Quenqua |first=Douglas |title=Astronomers Give Name to Network of Galaxies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/09/science/space/astronomers-give-name-to-network-of-galaxies.html |date=3 September 2014 |work=New York Times |access-date=4 September 2014 }}

{{cite news |publisher= Sky and Telescope |title= Laniakea: Our Home Supercluster |first= Camille M. |last= Carlisle |date= 3 September 2014 |access-date= 3 September 2014 |url= http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/laniakea-home-supercluster-09032014/ }}

}}

• {{cite journal |title= The Laniakea supercluster of galaxies |author1=R. Brent Tully |author2=Hélène Courtois|author-link2=Hélène Courtois|author3=Yehuda Hoffman |author4=Daniel Pomarède |date= 2 September 2014 |publication-date= 4 September 2014 |journal= Nature |volume= 513 |number= 7516 |pages=71–3 |bibcode= 2014Natur.513...71T |arxiv= 1409.0880 |doi= 10.1038/nature13674 |pmid=25186900|s2cid=205240232 }}
• [http://www.universetoday.com/114304/meet-laniakea-our-home-supercluster/ Meet Laniakea, Our Home Supercluster]

{{Wikiquote}}

• {{icon|file}} Vimeo, [http://vimeo.com/104910552 "Laniakea Supercluster"], Daniel Pomarède, 4 September 2014—video representation of the findings of the discovery paper
• {{icon|file}} YouTube, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rENyyRwxpHo "Laniakea: Our Home Supercluster"], Nature Video, 3 September 2014—Redrawing the boundaries of the cosmic map, they redefine our home supercluster and name it Laniakea.

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{{Local Group}}

{{2014 in space}}

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Category:Galaxy superclusters

Category:Solar System