ESO 461-36 - A dwarf galaxy isolated in the Local Void (Image Credit: UDS/CNRS)
The vast majority of galaxies exist in clusters. These clusters are joined on larger scales by filaments and sheets of galaxies, between which, gigantic galactic voids are nearly entirely free of galaxies. These voids are often hundreds of million of light years across. Only rarely does a lonely galaxy break the emptiness. Our own Milky Way rests in one of these large sheets which borders the Local Void which is nearly 200 million light years across. In that emptiness, there have been tentative identifications of up to sixteen galaxies, but only one has been confirmed to actually be at a distance that places it within the void.
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Read the rest of Profile of a Lonely Galaxy (344 words)
© jvois for Universe Today, 2011. | Permalink | 19 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cosmology, dwarf galaxies, galaxies, void
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