Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 17 November 1989:
Vol. 246. no. 4932, pp. 897 - 903
DOI: 10.1126/science.246.4932.897
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Mapping the Universe

MARGARET J. GELLER 1 and JOHN P. HUCHRA 1

1 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138.

Maps of the galaxy distribution in the nearby universe reveal large coherent structures. The extent of the largest features is limited only by the size of the survey. Voids with a density typically 20 percent of the mean and with diameters of 5000 km s-1 are present in every survey large enough to contain them. Many galaxies lie in thin sheet-like structures. The largest sheet detected so far is the "Great Wall" with a minimum extent of 60 h-1 Mpc x 170 h-1 Mpc, where h is the Hubble constant in units of 100 km s-1 Mpc-1. The frequent occurrence of these structures is one of several serious challenges to our current understanding of the origin and evolution of the large-scale distribution of matter in the universe.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Hubble's diagram and cosmic expansion.
R. P. Kirshner (2004)
PNAS 101, 8-13
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Real or virtual large-scale structure?.
A. E. Evrard (1999)
PNAS 96, 4228-4231
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A gravitational diffusion model without dark matter.
R. J. Britten (1998)
PNAS 95, 3351-3355
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Central Galaxy in Abell 2029: An Old Supergiant.
J. M. Uson, S. P. Boughn, and J. R. Kuhn (1990)
Science 250, 539-540
   Abstract »    PDF »
COBE Confronts Cosmic Conundrums: Now measuring the microwave background, the new satellite ultimately could help us understand how the galaxies formed.
M. M. Waldrop (1990)
Science 247, 411-413
   PDF »
Astronomers Go Up Against the Great Wall: The discovery of this huge structure could undermine "cold dark matter" theory of galaxy formation; but what is the alternative?.
M. M. WALDROP (1989)
Science 246, 885
   PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)