The Great Wall of Galaxies

Click on the galaxy cluster for finder charts and observing notes

Sheets and Voids

For an Overview: Observing Galaxy Clusters
How It All Fits Together: Large Scale Structure

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 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. 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. - Margaret Geller & John Huchra

Geller and Huchra discovered the Great Wall on the first three sections of the CfA (Center for Astrophysics) redshift survey, which covered the region from eight to 16 hours of right ascension and from 26.5 to 42.5 degrees of (north) declination. Although the Leo and Hercules Clusters lie slightly south of this region, the authors make it clear that the same structure extends south of the survey boundaries. The wall of galaxies is skewed to our line of sight, with a mean redshift distance that varies from Z = 0.023 (~350 million light years) in Leo to Z = 0.033 (~500 million light years) in Hercules.

NAME	OTHER	CON	GAL1	MAG	Z	RA	DEC
AGC1367	Leo Cluster	LEO	NGC 3842	13.5	.022	1145	+19.8
AGC 1656	Coma Cluster	COM	NGC 4874	13.5	.023	1300	+28.0
AGC 2147	na	HER	IC 1165	13.8	.038	1602	+15.9
AGC 2151	Hercules Cluster	HER	NGC 6040	13.8	.036	1605	+17.8
AGC 2197	na	HER	NGC 6146	13.9	.030	1628	+40.9
AGC 2199	na	HER	NGC 6166	13.9	.031	1629	+39.5