Southern Supercluster

Closest neighboring galaxy supercluster

Not to be confused with Southern Supercluster Strand.

Southern Supercluster

NGC 1300, a spiral galaxy in the Eridanus Cluster, one of the 3 main clusters along with the Dorado and Fornax Cluster in the Southern Supercluster.

Observation data (Epoch J2000)
Constellation(s)| Cetus, Fornax, Eridanus, Horologium, and Dorado.[1]
Parent structure| Southern Supercluster Strand
Major axis| 41 Mpc (134 Mly)[1]
Velocity dispersion| 345 km/s[1]
Redshift| 1800 km/s[2]
Distance| 19.5 Mpc (63.6 Mly)[1]
Binding mass| 2.4×1014 [1] M☉
Luminosity (specify)| 2.4×1012 L☉[1] (total)
Other designations
Dorado-Fornax-Eridanus complex,[3][4] Dorado-Fornax-Eridanus stream,[5] Eridanus-Fornax-Dorado filament,[6] SSCa[7]

The Southern Supercluster is a nearby supercluster located around 19.5 Mpc (63.6 Mly) in the constellations of Cetus, Fornax, Eridanus, Horologium, and Dorado. It was first identified in 1953 by Gérard de Vaucouleurs.

The Southern Supercluster contains three main clusters, the Dorado, Fornax, and Eridanus clusters, along with many other groups of galaxies.[1]

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.[8] This would mean that the Southern Supercluster Strand's components, the Southern Supercluster and the Telescopium−Grus Cloud[7] would be part of this new supercluster. The Virgo Supercluster would also be part of this greater supercluster, thus becoming the local supercluster.[8]

## Physical characteristics

[edit]

The Southern Supercluster is a long, 41 Mpc (134 Mly) chain of at least 15[1] to 33 groups and clusters of galaxies[9] that runs though the Dorado, Fornax, and Eridanus clusters.[10] The supercluster consists of two segments: Region A and Region B. Region A, which is the richest part of the supercluster, has a width of 3 Mpc (9.8 Mly), a thickness of 20 Mpc (65.2 Mly), and lies at a distance of 19 Mpc (62.0 Mly) with a redshift of 1161 km/s. Region A is almost parallel to the supergalactic plane. Region B has a width of 13 Mpc (42.4 Mly), a thickness of 26 Mpc (84.8 Mly), and lies at a distance of 22 Mpc (71.8 Mly) with a redshift of 1403 km/s. Region B is perpendicular to the supergalactic plane.[1]

The Southern Supercluster connects to the Telescopium−Grus Cloud through the Cetus-Aries Cloud, a minor filament that was identified and described in 1987 by astronomer Brent Tully with colleague Richard Fisher in his book The Nearby Galaxies Atlas.[11]

The Southern Supercluster is a branch of a larger filament extending from the Centaurus Cluster that is known as the Southern Supercluster Strand which also encompasses the Telescopium−Grus Cloud. The Southern Supercluster Srand extends all the way to the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster.[7][12] The Southern Supercluster which is part of the Southern Supercluster Strand, along with the Centaurus–Puppis–PP filament, which contains the Antila Wall and both extend to the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster, form a wall bounding the Sculptor Void.[12]

## Observational history

[edit]

In 1847, John Herschel had pointed out the existence of a stream of galaxies or nebulae as they were known at the time in the constellations of Cetus, Fornax, Eridanus, Horologium, and Dorado. Later in 1953 Gérard de Vaucouleurs recognized this band as a supercluster[1] dubbing it the ''southern supergalaxy'',[13] with many of the groups and clusters being identified by around 1975.[14]

In 1987, astronomer Brent Tully with colleague Richard Fisher identified in his book The Nearby Galaxies Atlas the Cetus-Aries Cloud, a nearby minor filament that was described as being a connection between the Southern Supercluster and the Telescopium−Grus Cloud, another filament that was identified by the same authors that year.[15] In 1989, Mitra et al. first described the physical structure of the Southern Supercluster based on the distribution of galaxies inferred from their redshifts and suspected that a filament connected the Southern Supercluster Strand with the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster.[16] This was later confirmed in 2017 by Pomarède et al.[12] In 1992, Fouque et al. grouped the Cetus-Aries Cloud, also known as cloud 52 and the Antlia Cloud (Cloud 54) in the book The Nearby Galaxies Atlas along with the Southern Supercluster's three major clusters, the Fornax, Eridanus, and Dorado clusters (clouds 51 and 53).[9] However, Brent Tully considers the Antlia Cloud to be part of the Virgo Supercluster.[17]

In 2013, Courtois et al. identified a filament extending from the Centaurus Cluster that encompasses the Southern Supercluster dubbed the Southern Supercluster Strand. The Southern Supercluster would now be considered a branch of this larger filament along with the Telescopium−Grus Cloud. The Southern Supercluster would be designated as branch SSCa of this filament, and the Telescopium−Grus Cloud would be designated as branch SSCb.[7] In 2017, Pomarède et al. revealed that this filament, now known as the Southern Supercluster strand along with another filament known as the Antlia Strand, extend all the way to the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster.[12]

## See also

[edit]

* Large-scale structure of the universe
* Galaxy Supercluster
* Laniakea Supercluster

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Mitra, Shyamal (1989-10-01). "The Southern Supercluster". The Astronomical Journal. 98: 1175. Bibcode:1989AJ.....98.1175M. doi:10.1086/115205. ISSN 0004-6256.
2. ^ Kraan-Korteweg, R. C.; Fairall, A. P.; Balkowski, C. (1995-05-01). "Extragalactic Large-scale structures behind the southern Milky Way.I. Redshifts obtained at the SAAO in the Hydra/Antlia extension". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 297: 617. arXiv:astro-ph/9411089. Bibcode:1995A&A...297..617K. ISSN 0004-6361.
3. ^ Santiago, B. X.; Strauss, M. A.; Lahav, O.; Davis, M.; Dressler, A.; Huchra, J. (1994-06-14). "The Optical Redshift Survey: Sample Selection and the Galaxy Distribution". The Astrophysical Journal. 446: 457. arXiv:astro-ph/9406049. doi:10.1086/175805. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 17333636.
4. ^ Giuricin, Giuliano; Marinoni, Christian; Ceriani, Lorenzo; Pisani, Armando (2000-11-01). "Nearby Optical Galaxies: Selection of the Sample and Identification of Groups". The Astrophysical Journal. 543 (1): 178–194\. arXiv:astro-ph/0001140. Bibcode:2000ApJ...543..178G. doi:10.1086/317070. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 9618325.
5. ^ de Vaucouleurs, G. (1971-04-01). "The Large-Scale Distribution of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 83 (492): 113. Bibcode:1971PASP...83..113D. doi:10.1086/129088. ISSN 0004-6280. S2CID 250734618.
6. ^ Willmer, C. N. A.; Focardi, P.; da Costa, L. Nicolaci; Pellegrini, P. S. (1989-11-01). "Studies of Nearby Poor Clusters: The Eridanus Group". The Astronomical Journal. 98: 1531. Bibcode:1989AJ.....98.1531W. doi:10.1086/115236. ISSN 0004-6256.
7. ^ a b c d Courtois, Hélène M.; Pomarède, Daniel; Tully, R. Brent; Hoffman, Yehuda; Courtois, Denis (2013-08-14). "Cosmography of the Local Universe". The Astronomical Journal. 146 (3): 69. arXiv:1306.0091. Bibcode:2013AJ....146...69C. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/146/3/69. ISSN 0004-6256. S2CID 118625532.
8. ^ a b Tully, R. Brent; Courtois, Hélène; Hoffman, Yehuda; Pomarède, Daniel (2014-09-01). "The Laniakea supercluster of galaxies". Nature. 513 (7516): 71–73\. arXiv:1409.0880. Bibcode:2014Natur.513...71T. doi:10.1038/nature13674. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 25186900. S2CID 205240232.
9. ^ a b Fouque, P.; Gourgoulhon, E.; Chamaraux, P.; Paturel, G. (1992-05-01). "Groups of galaxies within 80 Mpc. II. The catalogue of groups and group members". Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series. 93: 211–233\. Bibcode:1992A&AS...93..211F. ISSN 0365-0138.
10. ^ Pellegrini, P. S.; da Costa, L. Nicolaci; Huchra, J. P.; Latham, David W.; Willmer, C. N. A. (1990-03-01). "Distribution of Galaxies in the Southern Galactic CAP". The Astronomical Journal. 99: 751. Bibcode:1990AJ.....99..751P. doi:10.1086/115371. ISSN 0004-6256.
11. ^ Tully, R. Brent; Fisher, J. Richard (1987-01-01). Atlas of Nearby Galaxies. Bibcode:1987ang..book.....T.
12. ^ a b c d Pomarède, Daniel; Hoffman, Yehuda; Courtois, Hélène M.; Tully, R. Brent (2017-08-10). "The Cosmic V-Web". The Astrophysical Journal. 845 (1): 55. arXiv:1706.03413. Bibcode:2017ApJ...845...55P. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aa7f78. ISSN 1538-4357. S2CID 53064781.
13. ^ de Vaucouleurs, Gerard (1953-02-01). "Evidence for a local super-galaxy". The Astronomical Journal. 58: 30. Bibcode:1953AJ.....58...30D. doi:10.1086/106805. ISSN 0004-6256.
14. ^ "Nearby Groups of Galaxies". ned.ipac.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2023-09-03.
15. ^ Tully, R. Brent; Fisher, J. Richard (1987-01-01). Atlas of Nearby Galaxies. Bibcode:1987ang..book.....T.
16. ^ Mitra, Shyamal (October 1989). "The Southern Supercluster". The Astronomical Journal. 98: 1175. Bibcode:1989AJ.....98.1175M. doi:10.1086/115205.
17. ^ Tully, R. B. (1982-06-01). "The Local Supercluster". The Astrophysical Journal. 257: 389–422\. doi:10.1086/159999. ISSN 0004-637X.