Galaxy filament

[
dark matter distribution in a slice cut through a simulation of a flat universe with cosmological constant. The distribution reveals fine, filamentary structures. The slice has a side length of 520 million light years, and a thickness of 100 million light years. It contains the so-called "supergalactic plane". The major nearby clusters, like Coma, Virgo, Perseus cluster, are labelled. [http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/galform/data_vis/] ]

In physical cosmology, filaments are the largest known structures in the universe, thread-like structures with a typical length of 50 to 80 "h"^-1 megaparsecs that form the boundaries between large voids in the universe. [Bharadwaj, Somnath; Bhavsar, Suketu; Sheth, Jatush V. [http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/382140 The Size of the Longest Filaments in the Universe] . Astrophys.J. 606 (2004) 25-31] Filaments consist of gravitationally-bound galaxies; parts where a large number of galaxies are very close to each other are called superclusters.

In 2006, scientists announced the discovery of three filaments aligned to form the largest structure known to humankind, composed of densely-packed galaxies and enormous blobs of gas known as Lyman alpha blobs. [cite news| url=http://edition.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/07/28/universe.blob/index.html| title= Scientists: Cosmic blob biggest thing in universe| first= Ker| last= Than| publisher=SPACE.com|date=2006-07-28| accessdate=2007-03-11]

List

Filaments

Filament subtype of filaments have roughly similar major and minor axes in cross-section, along the lengthwise axis.

Galaxy walls

The Galaxy wall subtype of filaments have a signifcantly greater major axis than minor axis in cross-section, along the lengthwise axis.

* A Centaurus Wall or Centaurus Great Wall has been proposed, and would have the Fornax Wall as a portion of it, visually created by the Zone of Avoidance. It would also include the Centaurus Supercluster and the Local Supercluster, (this would then be the Local Wall or Local Great Wall)

* A wall has been proposed to be the physical embodiment of the Great Attractor, with the Norma Cluster as part of this wall. This wall is also referred to as the Great Attractor Wall or Norma Wall. [ World Science, [http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/exclusives-nfrm/060419_attractor.htm Wall of galaxies tugs on ours, astronomers find] "April 19, 2006" ]

* A wall has been proposed to lie at z=1.47 in the vicinity of radio galaxy B3 0003+387. [ 'The Astronomical Journal', Volume 120, Issue 5, pp. 2331-2337. B3 0003+387: AGN-Marked Large-Scale Structure at Redshift 1.47? "11/2000" bibcode|2000AJ....120.2331T doi|10.1086/316827 ]

Map of nearest galaxy walls

Other images

ee also

* Galaxy
* Galaxy clusters
* Galaxy superclusters
* List of galaxy clusters
* List of galaxies
* List of galaxy superclusters
* Large-scale structure of the universe
* Void (astronomy)

References

Further reading

* arXiv, PDF|1= [http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=AS05006.pdf Pulling out Threads from the Cosmic Tapestry:Defining Filaments of Galaxies] , Kevin A. Pimbblet, 14 March 2005

External links

* [http://pil.phys.uniroma1.it/twiki/bin/view/Pil/GalaxyStructures Pictures of the filamentary network]
* Astronomical Institute / Utrecht University - [http://www.astro.uu.nl/~strous/AA/en/boom/filament.html#filament Astronomy Answers - Universe Family Tree: Filament] (Dr Louis Strous)
* Astronomical Institute / Utrecht University - [http://www.astro.uu.nl/~strous/cgi-bin/glossary.cgi?l=en&o=filaments Astronomy Answers - From the Astronomical Dictionary - filament] (Dr Louis Strous)