Boötes Void
Enormous, approximately-spherical region of space containing very few galaxies From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Boötes Void (/boʊˈoʊtiːz/ boh-OH-teez) (colloquially referred to as the Great Nothing)[1] is a roughly spherical region of space in the vicinity of the constellation Boötes. It contains only 60 galaxies, a figure significantly lower than the approximately 2,000 galaxies expected for an area of comparable size. With a radius of 62 megaparsecs (nearly 330 million light-years), it is one of the largest voids in the visible universe, and is often referred to as a "supervoid".[2]
It was discovered in 1981 by astronomer Robert Kirshner as part of a survey of galactic redshift.[3] Its centre is located 700 million light-years from Earth,[2] at right ascension 14h 50m and declination 46°.
The Hercules Superclusters are part of the near edge of the void.[3]
Formation
The existence of the Boötes Void does not appear to conflict with the Lambda-cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model of cosmological evolution.[4] It is hypothesized that the Boötes Void formed through the coalescence of smaller voids.[5] This process may explain the presence of a limited number of galaxies within a roughly cylindrical region extending through the center of the void.[6]
See also
References
Sources
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