The Universe within 200 million Light Years

This drawing shows the distribution of galaxies within 200 million light years. It shows the region of space surrounding the Virgo supercluster. The dominant supercluster within this region is the Centaurus supercluster seen stretching away from the Virgo supercluster. The Centaurus supercluster is named after the large Centaurus cluster (A3526) although only the nearest half of the supercluster is shown on this map. Underneath the Virgo supercluster lies the Hydra supercluster named after the large Hydra cluster (A1060). On the left side of the map are some of the nearest galaxy groups in the Pavo-Indus supercluster most of which lies beyond the 200 million light year limit of this map. Several well-known voids are also marked on the map - these are regions where very few galaxies exist although none of the nearest voids are particularly large by cosmological standards. There is also a negative version of this map which might be easier to print.

Nearby superclusters

The major Groups and Clusters of Galaxies within 200 million ly

This is a list of most of the large groups and clusters of galaxies within 200 million light years. The three dominant clusters are the Virgo, Centaurus and Hydra clusters. There is one other Abell cluster - A3565 - within this region although it does not seem to be very rich.

    1              2     3      4     5      6       7      8      9
 Name of         Equatorial  Supergalactic Number   RV   Distance Supercluster
 Group           Coordinates  Coordinates    of   (km/s)  (Mly)   Membership
                 RA(2000)Dec    L°    B°  Galaxies
Virgo I         12 30  +11.5  103.7  -2.8   100     960     50    Virgo
Ursa Major S    12 05  +45.0   70.2  +2.5    15     890     55    Virgo
Ursa Major N    11 50  +52.0   62.7  +2.7    20    1060     60    Virgo
Fornax I        03 35  -35.0  263.3 -41.5    40    1420     60    
Eridanus        03 36  -22.0  280.8 -42.7    30    1550     70    
NGC4697         12 55  -06.6  122.8  -1.8    15    1200     70    Virgo
Puppis          08 00  -27.0  155.9 -71.2    40    2100     95    
Virgo M         12 24  +14.0  100.9  -3.5    20    2240    105    Virgo
Virgo W         12 20  +06.0  108.3  -6.7    20    2290    105    Virgo
NGC5676/IC1029  14 33  +49.7   68.1 +27.7    15    2340    110    
NGC5044         13 15  -16.5  133.7  +0.2    15    2510    115    
NGC5371         13 52  +40.5   78.5 +20.9    20    2540    120    
NGC3557         11 10  -37.5  151.1 -30.2    15    2660    125    Hydra
NGC7172/IC5156  22 02  -32.5  248.8 +24.3    15    2660    125    Pavo-Indus
Antlia          10 30  -34.5  148.3 -38.5    30    2830    130    Hydra
Telescopium     20 10  -48.3  220.0 +23.8    15    2840    130    Pavo-Indus
Centaurus/A3526 12 45  -41.0  156.0 -12.1   100    2990    140    Centaurus
ESO507-25       12 51  -26.5  141.9  -7.8    20    3040    140    Centaurus
NGC6753/IC4837A 19 10  -56.0  208.7 +18.2    25    3100    145    Pavo-Indus
NGC5011/5090    13 15  -43.5  159.7  -7.2    20    3180    150    Centaurus
NGC3801/3800    11 41  +17.5   94.1 -12.1    20    3230    150    
IC5250/NGC7329  22 47  -65.0  227.5  -1.7    15    3230    150    Pavo-Indus
Hydra/A1060     10 37  -27.5  139.3 -37.5   100    3360    155    Hydra
A3565           13 34  -33.6  151.3  -0.8    40    3590    165    Centaurus
Pavo/NGC6876    20 18  -70.9  213.2  +2.4    20    3820    180    Pavo-Indus
Pegasus         23 20  +08.5  298.6 +25.1    30    3840    180    
NGC6769/IC4845  19 19  -60.6  209.5 +13.5    30    4020    185    Pavo-Indus
NGC5419/5488    14 06  -33.7  153.7  +5.4    30    4030    190    Centaurus
NGC5152         13 27  -29.7  147.1  -1.0    20    4040    190    Centaurus
NGC1417         03 45  -04.6  305.0 -42.0    25    4050    190    
Cancer          08 19  +21.5   56.0 -47.5    30    4250    200    
NGC4709         12 49  -41.0  156.1 -11.3    40    4310    200    Centaurus
Column 1: The usual name(s) of the cluster.
Column 2: The Right Ascension in hours and minutes for epoch 2000.
Column 3: The declination in degrees and minutes for epoch 2000.
Column 4: The supergalactic longitude.
Column 5: The supergalactic latitude.
Column 6: The number of large galaxies in the cluster.  This number is a very
          rough estimate.
Column 7: The recessional velocity of the cluster.
Column 8: The approximate distance to the cluster in millions of light years.
Column 9: The supercluster that the cluster belongs to.

References:
Fouque P, Gourgoulhon E, Chamaraux P, Paturel G, (1992), Groups of Galaxies within 
          80 Mpc, Astron Astrophys Supp, 93, 211.
Garcia A, (1993), General study of group membership. II. Determination of nearby groups.
          Astron Astrophys Supp, 100, 47.
Giuricin G, Marinoni C, Ceriani L, Pisani A, (2000), Nearby optical galaxies: selection
          of the sample and identification of groups. Astrophys J, 543, 178.

A note on the Puppis and Cancer clusters

There is a lot of uncertainty about the Puppis cluster. It is directly behind the plane of our Galaxy and it is very heavily obscured. It is not even certain whether there is an actual cluster there, although there are certainly galaxies in this region. If the Puppis cluster is an actual cluster then it is probably similar in size to the Fornax cluster and lies at a distance of slightly under 100 million light years.

The Cancer cluster, on the other hand, probably doesn't exist at all - careful studies of the galaxies in this region show that the cluster probably consists of several smaller groups of galaxies lying close to each other.

The Pavo cluster The Pegasus cluster
Two famous groups of galaxies. The Pavo (NGC 6876) cluster (left) is a compact group of galaxies. The Pegasus cluster (right) contains a similar number of galaxies although spread across a larger distance. Both these groups are 180 million light years from us.
The local supercluster Back to the Virgo Supercluster page