Did we just discover the Milky Way is in middle of nowhere?

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In summary: It's as if the Universe were composed of living Galaxies, and Galactic Families, which 'feed' on the matter around them, traveling ro places where there is more food, and leaving the locales where the nourishment has been exhausted. What an image, and fanciful story!Thanks for the videos, they are very interesting. I can see the local void is really quite small, I missed that in the original article. So it seems the great attractor is a very important feature. Are there other examples of this magnitude around the Universe?This is a pretty good presentation. :smile:
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Tanelorn said:
Did we really just discover the Milky Way is in middle of nowhere?
I just saw this article today and I had never heard this before.
In fact I thought it was a homogenous Universe apart from the cmbr cold spot and the dark flow area (apologies if they are the same thing)

https://www.universetoday.com/135954/largest-scales-milky-way-galaxy-middle-nowhere/
Some more detailed reading here, it explains the Homogeneous/Under-Density pretty well.
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/775/1/62/pdf
 
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Tanelorn said:
In fact I thought it was a homogenous Universe apart from the cmbr cold spot and the dark flow area (apologies if they are the same thing)

The universe is approximately homogeneous on its largest scales, but at smaller scales it is highly inhomogeneous.
 
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It may well be that the Milky way is in a region where galaxies are less dense than other regions, but it doesn't seem like a 'void'
The Milky way has several smaller satellite galaxies, and Andromeda is nearby on a cosmic scale, also with satellite galaxies,
then there is the local group of a dozen or so galaxies which we are bound with.
 
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rootone said:
It may well be that the Milky way is in a region where galaxies are less dense than other regions, but it doesn't seem like a 'void'
The Milky way has several smaller satellite galaxies, and Andromeda is nearby on a cosmic scale, also with satellite galaxies,
then there is the local group of a dozen or so galaxies which we are bound with.

Voids, in the context of cosmology, are large regions of space which have less density (hence, far fewer galaxies) than average. It's not about being a perfect vacuum. See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Void_(astronomy)
 
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rootone said:
The Milky way has several smaller satellite galaxies, and Andromeda is nearby on a cosmic scale, also with satellite galaxies,
then there is the local group of a dozen or so galaxies which we are bound with.

Given the length scale of the void according to the paper (about 300 Mpc), the entire "Local supercluster" of galaxies (the Virgo cluster and other clusters that orbit it, including our Local Group) is within the void. So "void" certainly doesn't mean "practically empty of galaxies". The difference in average density does not look to be all that great in absolute terms.
 
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Visual help: "HD - Cosmography Local Universe - subtitles in english, french, italian"



I've watched that video about 10 times now, never get tired of it. *I* live there! That's amazing.

The part at the end where they animate the map ("fanciful" as the narrator says, but still)
 
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TheOldFart said:
Visual help: "HD - Cosmography Local Universe - subtitles in english, french, italian"



I've watched that video about 10 times now, never get tired of it. *I* live there! That's amazing.

The part at the end where they animate the map ("fanciful" as the narrator says, but still)


It's as if the Universe were composed of living Galaxies, and Galactic Families, which 'feed' on the matter around them, traveling ro places where there is more food, and leaving the locales where the nourishment has been exhausted. What an image, and fanciful story!
 
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Thanks for the videos, they are very interesting. I can see the local void is really quite small, I missed that in the original article.
So it seems the great attractor is a very important feature. Are there other examples of this magnitude around the Universe?
What is going to happen when all these galaxies end up in that same place? A multitude of galaxy collisions presumably which probably means it is not a nice place for life to exist?
 
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1oldman, thanks and that is just 2 galaxies colliding, it seems like 1000s or more heading towards the great attractor!
 
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1. What does it mean for the Milky Way to be in the middle of nowhere?

When we say that the Milky Way is in the middle of nowhere, we mean that it is located in a relatively empty region of the universe. This is in contrast to other galaxies that are part of galaxy clusters or superclusters, which are densely populated areas of the universe.

2. How do we know that the Milky Way is in the middle of nowhere?

This discovery was made by mapping the positions of thousands of galaxies in relation to the Milky Way. This revealed that our galaxy is located in a large void, a region with a significantly lower density of galaxies compared to other areas of the universe.

3. What are the implications of the Milky Way being in the middle of nowhere?

One implication is that the Milky Way is less likely to experience collisions with other galaxies, as it is not located in a dense region where galaxies are more likely to interact. This could also affect the rate of star formation and the availability of gas and other resources for the Milky Way.

4. Is the Milky Way truly alone in this region of the universe?

While the Milky Way may be located in a void, it is not completely isolated. The void is still filled with gas and dark matter, and there are other galaxies within a few million light years of our own. Additionally, the expansion of the universe means that the Milky Way will eventually be surrounded by new galaxies that are currently too far away to detect.

5. How does this discovery impact our understanding of the universe?

This discovery challenges the previous assumption that the Milky Way was part of a larger structure or cluster of galaxies. It also raises questions about the formation and evolution of galaxies, and how their environment may affect these processes. Further research and observations will help us better understand the implications of our galaxy's location in the middle of nowhere.

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