Shapley Supercluster

Supercluster in the constellation Centaurus

Shapley Supercluster

Galaxies in the Shapley Supercluster

Observation data (Epoch J2000)
Constellation(s)| Centaurus
Right ascension| 13h 25m [1]
Declination| −30° 0′ 0″[1]
Distance| 200 Mpc (652 Mly)
Other designations
Shapley Concentration, SCl 124

The Shapley Supercluster or Shapley Concentration (SCl 124) is one of the largest concentration of galaxies in the universe that forms a gravitationally interacting unit, thereby pulling itself together instead of expanding with the universe. It appears as a striking overdensity in the distribution of galaxies in the constellation of Centaurus. It is 650 million light-years away (z=0.046).

## History

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In 1930,[2] Harlow Shapley and his colleagues at the Harvard College Observatory started a survey of galaxies in the southern sky, using photographic plates obtained at the 24-inch Bruce telescope at Bloemfontein, South Africa. By 1932, Shapley reported the discovery of 76,000 galaxies brighter than 18th apparent magnitude in a third of the southern sky, based on galaxy counts from his plates. Some of this data was later published as part of the Harvard galaxy counts, intended to map galactic obscuration and to find the space density of galaxies.

In this catalog, Shapley could see most of the 'Coma-Virgo cloud' (now known to be a superposition of the Coma Supercluster and the Virgo Supercluster), but found a 'cloud' in the constellation of Centaurus to be the most striking concentration of galaxies. He found it particularly interesting because of its "great linear dimension, the numerous population and distinctly elongated form". This can be identified with what we now know as the core of the Shapley Supercluster. Shapley estimated the distance to this cloud to be 14 times that to the Virgo Cluster, from the average diameters of the galaxies. This would place the Shapley Supercluster at a distance of 231 Mpc, based on the current estimate of the distance to Virgo.

In recent times, the Shapley Supercluster was named by Somak Raychaudhury,[3] from a survey of galaxies from UK Schmidt Telescope Sky survey plates, using the Automated Plate Measuring Facility (APM) at the University of Cambridge in England. In this paper, the supercluster was named after Harlow Shapley, in recognition of his pioneering survey of galaxies in which this concentration of galaxies was first seen. Around the same time, Roberto Scaramella and co-workers had also noticed the Shapley Supercluster in the Abell catalogue of clusters of galaxies: they had named it the Alpha concentration.[4]

A map of the Shapley Supercluster

## Current interest

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The Shapley Supercluster lies very close to the direction in which the Local Group of galaxies (including our galaxy) is moving with respect to the cosmic microwave background (CMB) frame of reference. This has led many to speculate that the Shapley Supercluster may be one of the major causes of our galaxy's peculiar motion—the Great Attractor may be another—and has led to a surge of interest in this supercluster. It has been found that the Great Attractor and all the galaxies in our region of the universe (including our galaxy, the Milky Way) are moving toward the Shapley Supercluster.[5]

In 2017 it was proposed that the movement towards attractors like the Shapley Attractor in the supercluster creates a relative movement away from underdense areas, that may be visualized as a virtual repeller. This approach enables new ways of understanding and modelling variations in galactic movements. The nearest large underdense area has been labelled the dipole repeller.[6]

## See also

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* Dark flow – Controversial hypothesis in astrophysics
* Great Attractor – Region of overdensity of galaxies within the local supercluster
* Hydra–Centaurus Supercluster – Former galaxy supercluster
* Large-scale structure of the universe – All of space observable from the Earth at the present
* Norma Cluster – Galaxy cluster in the constellation Norma
* Supercluster – Large group of smaller galaxy clusters or galaxy groups

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Proust, Dominique; Quintana, Hernán [in Spanish]; Carrasco, Eleazar R.; Reisenegger, Andreas; Slezak, Eric; Muriel, Hernán; Dünner, Rolando; Sodré, Laerte Jr.; Drinkwater, Michael J. [in Italian]; Parker, Quentin A.; Ragone, Cinthia J. (June 2006). "The Shapley supercluster: the largest matter concentration in the local Universe" (PDF). The Messenger. 124 (124). European Southern Observatory (ESO): 30–31\. Bibcode:2006Msngr.124...30P. OCLC 992894162.
2. ^ "The Shapley Supercluster". www.atlasoftheuniverse.com. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
3. ^ Raychaudhury, Somak (November 1989). "The distribution of galaxies in the direction of the 'Great Attractor'". Nature. 342 (6247): 251–255\. Bibcode:1989Natur.342..251R. doi:10.1038/342251a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4354365.
4. ^ Scaramella, R.; Baiesi-Pillastrini, G.; Chincarini, G.; Vettolani, G.; Zamorani, G. (April 1989). "A marked concentration of galaxy clusters: is this the origin of large-scale motions?". Nature. 338 (6216): 562–564\. Bibcode:1989Natur.338..562S. doi:10.1038/338562a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4336689.
5. ^ "What is the Great Attractor?". 14 July 2014.
6. ^ Hoffman, Yehuda; Pomarède, Daniel; Tully, R. Brent; Courtois, Hélène M. (30 January 2017). "The dipole repeller". Nature Astronomy. 1 (2): 0036. arXiv:1702.02483. Bibcode:2017NatAs...1E..36H. doi:10.1038/s41550-016-0036. S2CID 7537393.

## External links

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* Shapley Supercluster at Atlas of the Universe
* "The Shapley Concentration". Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR). Istituto di Radioastronomia (IRA). Archived from the original on March 26, 2007.
* Harvard College Observatory (HCO)
* "X-rays Reveal What Makes the Milky Way Move". University of Hawaii. IFA. January 11, 2006. "Part of Abell 3558, the galaxy cluster at the center of the Shapley Supercluster, the largest mass concentration in the observable Universe"
* "A Complete CEnsus of Star formation in the Shapley supercluster". Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica. Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte.
* Hoffman, Yehuda; Pomarède, Daniel; Tully, R. Brent; Courtois, Hélène M. (Jan 30, 2017). "Dipole Repeller". Nature Astronomy. 1 (36): 0036. arXiv:1702.02483. Bibcode:2017NatAs...1E..36H. doi:10.1038/s41550-016-0036. S2CID 7537393.

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* t
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Constellation of Centaurus

* List of stars in Centaurus
* Centaurus in Chinese astronomy

Stars|

| Bayer|

* α
* A (Rigil Kentaurus)
* B (Toliman)
* C (Proxima Centauri)
* β (Hadar)
* γ (Muhlifain)
* δ
* ε
* ζ (Leepwal)
* η
* θ (Menkent)
* ι (Kulou)
* κ
* λ
* μ
* ν (Heng)
* ξ1
* ξ2
* ο1
* ο2
* π
* ρ
* σ
* τ
* υ1
* υ2
* φ
* χ
* ψ

|

Flamsteed|

* 1 (i)
* 2 (g)
* 3 (k)
* 4 (h)

Variable|

* R
* T
* U
* V
* Y
* RR
* SV
* SX
* BV
* DY
* UY
* V346
* V553
* V744
* V752
* V761 (a)
* V763 (C1)
* V766
* V779
* V803
* V810
* V816 (Przybylski's Star)
* V831
* V842
* V885
* V886
* V863
* V945 (H)
* V1032
* V1369
* V1400

HR|

* 4460 (A)
* 4466 (C2)
* 4476 (C3)
* 4499
* 4522
* 4523
* 4537 (j)
* 4546 (B)
* 4620 (E)
* 4652 (D)
* 4682 (F)
* 4712 (x1)
* 4721
* 4724 (x2)
* 4732 (G)
* 4748 (u)
* 4796
* 4817 (l)
* 4831 (w)
* 4874 (p)
* 4888 (e)
* 4889 (n)
* 4940 (f)
* 4979
* 4989
* 5006 (r)
* 5035 (J)
* 5041 (m)
* 5071 (K)
* 5089 (d)
* 5141 (Q)
* 5172 (M)
* 5174 (z)
* 5207 (N)
* 5222 (y)
* 5224
* 5241
* 5297
* 5358 (v)
* 5371
* 5471 (b)
* 5485 (c1)
* 5489 (c2)

HD|

* 97413
* 98176
* 100453
* 101581
* 101930
* 102117 (Uklun)
* 103197
* 107914
* 108236
* 109749
* 110113
* 113538
* 113766
* 114386
* 114729
* 115600
* 116434 (Matza)
* 117207
* 117618 (Dofida)
* 120411
* 121228
* 121504
* 124448
* 125072
* 125595
* 131399

Other|

* 2MASS J1126−5003
* 2M1207
* Gaia BH2
* J1407b
* PSR B1259−63
* PSR J1311−3430
* TOI-763
* WASP-15 (Nyamien)
* WASP-41
* WASP-42
* WASP-167/KELT-13

| Exoplanets|

* 2M1207b
* b Centauri b
* HD 102117 b
* HD 103197 b
* HD 109749 b
* HD 101930 b
* HD 113538 b
* c
* HD 114386 b
* HD 114729 b
* HD 117207 b
* HD 117618 b
* HD 121504 b
* HIP 65426 b
* HIP 67522 b
* Proxima Centauri b
* c
* d
* WASP-15b

|

| Star clusters|

* IC 2944
* NGC 3766
* NGC 4230
* NGC 5286
* NGC 5281
* NGC 5316
* NGC 5460
* NGC 5617
* NGC 5662
* ω Centauri
* Scorpius–Centaurus association
* Stock 16

|

| Nebulae|

* Boomerang Nebula
* Fleming 1
* G292.0+1.8
* IC 2944
* IRAS 13208−6020
* NGC 3918
* NGC 5307
* RCW 79
* Southern Crab Nebula
* SN 185 (RCW 86)
* SuWt 2

|

Galaxies|

| NGC|

* 3783
* 4444
* 4603
* 4622
* 4650A
* 4683
* 4696
* 4706
* 4709
* 4729
* 4730
* 4743
* 4744
* 4930
* 4945
* 4976
* 5011
* A
* 5026
* 5090
* 5091
* 5102
* 5114
* 5121
* 5128 (Centaurus A)
* 5161
* 5253
* 5291
* 5398
* 5408
* 5419
* 5483

|

Other|

* ESO 269-57
* ESO 325-G004
* ESO 383-76
* ESO 444-46
* Fourcade-Figueroa Object
* IC 3370
* IRAS 13224−3809
* LEDA 677373
* PKS 1144−379
* PKS 1353−341
* PKS 1424−418

| Galaxy clusters|

* Abell S740
* Shapley Supercluster

|

| Astronomical events|

* SN 185
* SN 1895B
* SN 1986G

|

Category

Portals:

* Astronomy
* Stars
* Outer space

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