Dr.

Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

Syllabus Unit-3: Galaxies and the Universe (10 Lectures)

(A) Milky Way galaxy: components, morphology and kinematics of the Milky Way, the galactic center, spiral
arms.
(B) Classification and morphology of galaxies - quiet and active galaxies, types of active galaxies, Active
Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and Quasars, accretion by supermassive black holes.

(A) OUR OWN GALAXY:

It is now believed that stars arrange themselves into billions of self-
contained systems called galaxies. Our star, the Sun, is one of about
200 billion stars in the galaxy called the Milky Way – our home
galaxy. It is a spiral galaxy, inside which about 90% of the stars
reside. The rest 10% are present in the intergalactic medium. If the
distance of the sun from the galactic centre be R☼, the orbital velocity
of the sun around the galactic centre be v☼, then the orbital period is τ
= 2πR☼/v☼. For a whole spherical mass distribution M(R☼) inside the
radius R☼, we can have GM(R☼)/ R☼2 = v☼2/R☼, giving M(R☼) =
R☼v☼2/G. This approximation holds good for a flattened circular mass
distribution which gives R☼ approximately equal to 1011 times the
solar mass M☼, indicating that there are about 1011 sun-like stars
interior to the solar orbit.
Let us now pay attention to the different components of our galaxy, which is more or less same for others too.

1) The Stellar Disc: Inside the stellar disc, mass distribution falls off exponentially with both the distance from
the center and height above/below the plane of the disc, as   0 exp  r r0 exp  z h0  . The scale length of
the disc r0 is less than less than half of R☼, the scale height h0 is greater for the stellar matter and less for the gas
& dust matter. The mass of the disc within r 0 is about 1010M☼, implying that it contains about 2×1010 stars,
considering that average stellar mass is about 0.5M☼. Thus the average stellar density can be obtained as
n  (2 1010 ) (r0  2h0 ) . The average distance between the stars is thus crudely d  n  , without of course,
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considering the effects of gravity.

Under the same approximation, the mean free path of a star, to escape physical collision with another one is
given by l  1 n  , where the geometric cross section σ is equal to the area of a circle having twice the radius of
a star, given as π(2r☼)2. The time between two collisions is   l vran , with vran being the random, non-circular
velocity of the stars in the disc. When explicitly calculated, one finds τ to be very large, indicating that most
stars never ever collide in the galaxy. Even if we consider gravitational focusing, by which the effective cross
section increases about 103 times than σ and nearby stars attract each other, yet it is found the stellar collisions
are extremely rare. Also, consideration of planetary systems of individual stars yields that only about 1% of the
stars in the disc, throughout their entire lifetime, have disruptions due to passage of a nearby star.

2) The Gas/Dust Disc: For this disc, the scale height is smaller than the stellar disc. From our vantage point
(near the mid-plane of the galactic disc), the view of the galaxy is extinct mostly due to this one, at optical and
near IR wavelengths, by a factor of 1011. Rather, perpendicular view of the disc towards the galactic halo or
beyond is essentially unattenuated.
The spiral arms of the galaxy have slightly enhanced gas density due to star formation within them, as the
luminosity of young massive stars is high. The stellar population includes them as well as intermediate & old
stars. The spiral arms are almost stationary features, through which the stars move in and out while orbiting the
galactic centre. Thus, along the disc, they transiently appear and disappear at different locations. If the spiral
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Dr. Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

arms were to move along with the stars, they would have washed away by now. Actually, they move at a very
slow pace. In the spiral galaxy disc, density waves of enhanced dust & stellar population may result from
particular shape of orbits if they reside for a significantly longer period of time at their peak location. The
prominent spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy are (a) Norma Arm, (b) Scutum-Crux Arm, (c) Sagittarius Arm,
(d) Orion Arm, (e) Perseus Arm and (f) Cygnus Arm. The Sun’s location is on Orion Arm. The spiral arms were
not originally present but are the result of dynamical interaction of the Galaxy with other galaxies and the
matter present in the inter-galactic space. To have a qualitative understanding, we need to ask ourselves: How
do we determine that the disk of the Galaxy comprises spiral arms? In view of the differential rotation of the
galactic disk, how do the spiral structures persist for so long? The first evidence of the spiral nature of the
Galaxy came from the observations of the non-uniform distribution of massive, bright and short-lived O and B
stars in the Galaxy. They, after their death, return some of the stellar materials back to the interstellar medium.
It is observed that these stars occur around the locations where star formation can take place; that is, the
interstellar medium containing gas and dust. Therefore, it was suggested that the spiral arms of the Galaxy
contain gas and dust in the form of molecular clouds and young stars. But the problem was how to detect gas
and dust at such distances? This could be made possible by radio astronomy, particularly after the discovery of
21 cm radiation. This enables astronomers to map the Galaxy and probe its spiral nature. Astronomers use the
intensity of the neutral hydrogen and carbon monoxide emission lines to trace the spiral arms. Further, the
young stars emit ultraviolet light and ionize the gas which surrounds them. These ionized gaseous regions
known as the H II, are very luminous. Simultaneously, due to the recombination process taking place in these H
II regions, neutral hydrogen (H I) regions are formed which are detected by their 21-cm radio emission. Next
logical question could be: How do these spiral structures persist because the differential rotation of the galaxy
should have destroyed them? To answer this question, C.C. Lin and Frank Shu proposed the so called density
wave model. According to this model, spiral arms are not a simple fixed array of stars; rather, spiral arms are
the areas where the density of gas is greater than in other places. As such, the arms and the space between the
arms contain roughly the same number of stars per unit volume. However, the arms contain larger number of
brighter (O and B) stars. According to Lin and Shu, the high density waves move through the galactic disk
which gives rise to the formation of stars. As interstellar clouds approach the density wave, it is compressed, the
collapse of interstellar gas is triggered and new stars are formed. Thus, density waves are capable of generating
all the constituents of spiral arms. It must be noted that according to the density wave model, a spiral arm is not
a static collection of slow moving gas and stars; rather it is a dynamic entity which always contains the same
type of objects. This brings us to the question: How does a density wave come into existence? The density wave
model does not provide a satisfactory answer to this question. Astronomers believe that the death of massive
stars causing supernovae explosions may produce density waves. It has been found by computer simulation
(experiments on the computer) that the supernovae explosions combined with the Keplerian motion can lead to
the formation of spiral arms.

3) The Spheroid or Bulge: The central bulge is a more or less spherical cloud of stars. Being located in the disk
region of the Galaxy, we cannot see this region in optical wavelengths. It is so because the disk region consists
of gas and dust which absorbs optical wavelengths and obstructs our view. The total mass of the bulge is
estimated to be about 1010M☼. Apart from stars, this region consists of gas in the form of molecular clouds and
ionized hydrogen. The motion of the stars and the gas near the centre of the bulge suggests that there could be a
massive black hole at the centre. The stellar bulge has a typical oblate spheroid shape of density falling off as
~r-3. Along with dust & stellar halo, it contains about 200 globular clusters. Its cross section is nearly elliptical;
the body of revolution has been obtained by rotating the ellipse about its minor axis. The stars in the bulge are
old, probably formed and have completed their main sequence life more or less at the same time. The spectra of
their atmosphere reveal the elemental abundances when they were formed. There was little or almost nil heavy
element enrichment in them by winds from other stellar giants or supernova ejections from previous

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Dr. Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

generations. Actually, the abundance of iron relative to hydrogen, in the halo stars, as compared to sun, is
smaller by a factor of 1/√10.

4) The Galactic Center: As visible light is obstructed by dust, the galactic centre has been studied from IR,
radio, X-ray & gamma ray wavelengths. It has a large density of stars, several young star clusters, supernova
remnants and complex assortment of atomic/molecular gases. At the kinematic centre of the stellar orbits, as
measured by radio telescopic interferometers, there is a compact object called Sagittarius A*, of size ~1 A.U
and mass ~ 4×106 M☼. Concentration of large mass within such a small region of space, with little luminosity
indicates the presence of a supermassive black hole within it. Such objects having masses ranging from mega to
giga solar masses are not uncommon in large spiral galaxies. It is still not clear that black holes are byproducts
of galactic formations.

5) Cosmic Rays: Energetic matter particles in form of showers from the sky are studied using high altitude
balloon experiments or by tracking muon showers as secondary particles reaching the earth. Primary cosmic
rays contain heavy nuclei along with electrons and protons. Some are of solar origin and others are of galactic
origin, produced and accelerated during supernova explosions. They are trapped by the magnetic field of the
Milky Way disc. Some cosmic rays are also of extra galactic origin and originate from active galactic nuclei as
well as gamma ray bursts.

6) The differential rotation of the galaxy: It was observed in early 19th century that like all other gravitating
bodies, our galaxy also rotates, though very slowly. The rotational velocity enhances its stability since the
outward centrifugal force counterbalances the inward gravitational pull. Since the centrifugal force is along the
equatorial plane, there is no obstacle for matter (other than the pressure) to fall along the vertical direction. As a
result, the spherical distribution of matter has over about 10 billion years, the highly flattened galaxy of today.
The rotational velocity of sun, at a distance of roughly 8 kpc from
the galactic centre, is about 240 million years once around it.
These measurements are done on the basis on differential rotation,
when different components of a system rotate independently. Let
us consider the following two cases.
The angular velocity of a star, in a Keplerian orbit around the galactic centre is given by straightforward
 
calculation Kep r   GM gal r 3 and thus the equatorial velocity v  r  r 1 / 2 . On the contrary, if stars in
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the galaxy are embedded in it as particles in the rigid body and the galaxy itself rotates with a constant angular
velocity ω, then in that case the equatorial velocity v  r .
Let us consider the sun S and a star Q, at distances R0 and R from the galactic centre
C, having velocity vectors v0 and v respectively. For simplicity, we assume that both
of them move in circular orbits around C. The galactic longitude of the star ‘l’ is the
angle made by the line of sights to C and Q from the sun, and α is the angle made by
its vector v with the line of sight from sun. It is clear from the figure that the angular
velocities of sun and star are ω0 = v0/R0 and ω = v/R respectively.
The radial velocity of the star, i.e., the projected velocity as observed along the line
of sight from the sun, is given by vr  v cos  v0 sin l  R cos  0 R0 sin l .
In the triangle SCQ, we find the angle SQC = 90+α, and hence by the law of sine, we get sin (90+α)/R 0 =sin l/R
or cos α = R0 (sin l)/R. Putting this value in the previous equation, we have vr    0 R0 sin l. In an exactly
similar fashion, if D be the sun-star distance, the tangential velocity component of the star as observed from sun
is calculated as vt  v sin   v0 cos l    0 R0 cos l  D.

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Dr. Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

In the solar neighborhood, D << R0 and under such approximation, we can express the angular velocity of the
  
star w.r.t that of sun by the Taylor series expansion   0    R  R0  , neglecting higher order terms.
 R  R0
Defining two constants as
 R0    1  v  v  
A     0     and
2  R  R0 2  R0  R  R0 
B  A  0 , we can easily express the
radial and transverse velocities of the star
as vr = A × D sin (2l) and vt = D[A
cos(2l) + B], with the valid approximation
(R0-R) ~ Dcos(l) as shown in figure.
These are known as Oort’s constants and
they show that the variation of velocities
with galactic longitude is sinusoidal.

The estimated values are A = 15 Km/s/Kpc and B = -10 Km/s/Kpc.

7) The Dark Halo: Evidence of dark halos is kinematic, based on the measurement of rotation curves, i.e.
circular velocities of test bodies in orbits about the galactic centre. These are measured from the line of sight
velocities obtained from the Doppler shift of a known transition, seen in the emission/absorption spectrum of
the gas. Corrections are made for inclination, observer’s motion and projections along the line of sight.
Surprisingly, it was found that circular velocity curves are flat at large radii,
instead of behaving as r-1/2 as Keplerian case. The constancy of orbiting
velocities holds even for outer parts of the galaxy where trace amount of
luminous matter exists. GM/r2 = v2/r indicates M(r) = v2r/G, and v(r) being
constant indicates M(r) ~ r. Far beyond the dimming exponentially dimming
disc and the spheroid with steeply falling light intensity, mass enclosed
within a radius r increases linearly with r out to the end of the dark halo.

8) The nature of Dark Matter: The dark mass contained within the halo consists of about 80-90% of the total
mass of the galaxies; and the luminous ones are just tips of the iceberg. Also, r ~ M(r) ~ ρr3 and hence, in the
outer regions of the galaxy where dark matter dominates, ρ(r) ~ r-2. The exact nature of dark matter is still not
clear, and the possibilities are mentioned as follows:
(i) Gas of Baryonic Matter: Surely the gas is not atomic, otherwise they would emit. The gas is not ionized
either, as they would be strong X-ray emitters. Molecular gas if present, have to be devoid of heavy elements
and must be chillingly cold. Attempts to detect these from H-absorption and scattering of the background UV
sources haven’t been successful yet.
(ii) Dust: They emit IR radiation and obscure the visibility of background objects. Furthermore, they are
composed of metals (elements heavier than He) and since only 2% of the baryonic matter of the universe is
made up by metals, one needs to drive away all the H + He mass out of the galaxy under such circumstances.
Since it is about 50 times more massive than the dust in the halo, it is rather impossible that dark matter is
entirely made of dust particles.

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Dr. Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

(iii) Massive Compact Halo Objects (MACHO): All gravitationally bound star like objects including planets
and black holes fall under this category. The nature of these objects and the conclusions drawn therein are
discussed as follows:
a) Main They are visible due to nuclear fusion reactions going on Thus, not possible to be a
Sequence within them constituent of dark matter.
Stars
b) Giant They are more luminous than the main sequence stars. Hence, possibility ruled
Stars out.
c) Neutron These are formed from Supernovae and thus rich in heavy Thus, not possible.
Stars elements which are absent in the halo.
d) Black If present in the halo, would disrupt the binary separations Thus, possibility ruled
holes found to be present in the halo by enormous encounters. out.
e) White They are rich in heavy elements as they are produced from Yet, not completely
dwarfs giants. Also luminous red halos are expected during white dwarf ruled out as stellar wind
formation. dynamics is not well
understood.
f) Brown They have masses in the range 1-70 MJupiter, emit no radiation Gravitational Lensing
dwarfs & and also there is no heavy element enrichment either. experiments have ruled them
planets out to be dark matter
constituents.

(iv) Elementary Particles: Even though their relativistic speeds pose a problem, yet, massive neutrinos are the
strongest contestants to be making up the dark matter.

(v) Cold Dark Matter: These are extensions beyond the Standard Model of Particle Physics and include
theoretically predicted particles like Axions & superpartners. These are highly massive, non-relativistic &
weakly interacting (WIMPs), and are also thought to be making up the dark matter.

However, Modified Newtonian Dynamics states that in the regime of weak acceleration existing in the
gravitational halo, the second law F = ma has to be replaced by ma2/a0, with a0=10-10 m/s2, which is capable of
phenomenological reproduction of the flattened galaxy rotation curve, thus ruling out presence of any dark
matter in the halo.

(B) GALAXY DEMOGRAPHICS:

1) Classification of Galaxies: There are mainly three kinds of galaxies,

Spiral (with bulge, disc & halo), Elliptical (devoid of disc) and Irregular
galaxies.
Spiral galaxies with dominant bulge contain mostly old stars of lower
masses, whereas those with little or no bulge consist of stars in the process
of formation. Also, some including the Milky Way consists of a central
Stellar Bar. Spirals may thus be ordinary ones or barred ones.
In Elliptic galaxies, stars move in random orbits with varying inclinations & eccentricities, in contrast to well
defined circular ones in spiral galaxies. They can be either spheroids or triaxial ellipsoids. Devoid of discs, they
are of low gas and dust content.
Spiral and elliptical galaxies are regular, and constitute respectively 70% and 25% of the galactic populations.
Irregular galaxies, making out few % of the total, are devoid of discs and have ongoing star formations within
them at scattered regions. It is still not clear whether halos are present in them or not.
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Dr. Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

2. Morphology: According to Hubble’s detailed morphological scheme, the differences between spiral and
elliptical galaxies are as follows:
The ratio of random velocities to rotational velocities is much larger in ellipticals than in spirals. However,
elliptical galaxies may be flattened even without much net rotation.
There is little or even no gas in ellipticals, much to the contrary to spirals and gas rich irregulars.
There is no evidence of young stars in most ellipticals, because there is no gas and dust from which they can be
formed.
There is no spiral structure in ellipticals. Spiral structure is almost always present in large disc galaxies;
however, some transition types between ellipticals and spirals called SO’s and SBO’s also lack spiral structures.

The famous tuning fork diagram of Hubble’s scheme

shows the morphological sequence from E0 to E7 of more
flattened ellipticals as seen in projection against the sky.
Recent stellar dynamic studies reveal that flattening of the
ellipticals occur not because of rotation, but due to large
random anisotropic velocities. On the other hand, central
bulges of spirals are flattened due to rotation only. The
implications of these strange results for the origin of
elliptical galaxies with smoothly varying light distribution
reveal that the jumble of stars are supported against their
mutual self gravity only by means of the random motion.

The coherent structure of spiral waves of disc galaxies indicates enough order. The morphological sequences
running from Sa to Sc and from SBa to SBc, denote ordinary and barred spiral galaxies with arms that are
progressively more loosely bound. The tightness of the spiral windings correlates closely with the relative size
of the central bulge; bigger it is, more closely wound are the arms. It also correlates somewhat with the
fractional gas content; Sa and SBa having less gas as compared to Sc and SBc. All spirals, which avoid merging
with other galaxies, would eventually become either SO or SBO when gases in them are exhausted. Some gas is
returned to the interstellar medium by dying stars. Indeed, the confinement of birth of stars to the spiral arms
suggests that in most spiral galaxies, the gas has become so diffuse that only when compressed in the arms, it
can birth to a star. The birth boom must have started long ago, and would effectively cease in another 10 11
years. The morphological scheme of Hubble has been refined with more recent studies.

3. Quiet & Active Galaxies: So far, our discussion was centered upon properties of ordinary galaxies which
show little activity beyond what might be expected from a collection of stars and gas. However, a small
percentage of observed galaxies exhibit violent activity well beyond the norm of so called quiet galaxies, and
hence is termed active. The activity is driven by energetic events in the nuclei of such galaxies. They are
classified mainly in five categories as follows:
a) Seyferts are spiral galaxies with bright nucleus, exhibiting emission lines in optical & radio range.
b) N-galaxies are elliptical with bright nucleus, emitting mostly radio waves.
c) BL Lacertae Objects are ellipticals with very bright nuclei, showing featureless continuum & polarization.
d) Radio Galaxies are generally supergiant ellipticals exhibiting double lobed radio structure. Occasionally, the
sources are of core-halo types, with a compact nuclear source emitting radio-waves varying over tie.
e) Quasars & QSOs: Both are quasi-stellar radio sources, usually emitting X-Rays & IR and possess redshifts.
4. Luminosity Function & Merger of galaxies: The total stellar luminosity of a galaxy can be measure by the so
called Schechter function; the number of galaxies per unit volume in the luminosity range L to L+dL is
represented by  L dL   L* L L*  exp  L L* dL , the characteristic cut off luminosity L* = 2×1010L☼,
1

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Dr. Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

above which the galaxies are rare. Considering the typical densities and time for physical collisions, we find
that only 1/500 galaxies have a chance to collide with each other. Even in that case, the stars of individual
galaxies do not collide; they just pass across one other. During the free fall of one galaxy onto the other, the
stars, gas, dust, dark matter etc. eventually fall into the spatially varying gravitational field of the other galaxy
and may experience tidal forces. These forces may disrupt their orbits or tear them off from the parent galaxy.
The tidal forces can take up enough kinetic energy of relative motion and the collision may end in merger of
two galaxies. Sometimes it is said that elliptical galaxies may have resulted from merger of spiral galaxies.
Collapse of gas clouds during merger may lead to vigorous bursts of star formation that are sometimes observed
in such interacting systems.

5. Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN): Supermassive black holes are supposed to exist in the centers of large galaxies
and there is abundance of gases due to stellar evolution and tidal disruption of other stars which move past it.
This is known as accretion. This accretion is different from those of interacting binary systems and thus the
Eddington Luminosity function, LE  4cGMmp  T properly scaled with galactic masses, results in high
nuclear luminosity of about 1040 J/s. About 1-10% of large galaxies have such high luminosities at their centres,
of non-stellar origin. Jets of emerging materials at relativistic speeds often result from these. Such AGNs have
spectral distribution at radio to X-Ray to even gamma-ray frequencies. This Doppler broadened synchrotron
radiation is suggestive of gas excitation by a powerful source and motion in a deep gravitational well. All these
are suggestive of accretion into the black hole.
There are classifications of the AGN owing to their properties, appearances and effects due to their orientation
with the observer’s line of sight. The accretion discs and other components of the AGN are not spherically
symmetric. There is also a debate while majority of central black holes in galaxies like the Milky Way are not
so active.

6. Quasars: They have high luminosities of the order of Eddington limit and often they are so bright that their
host galaxies are difficult to detect. Assuming the quasars to be powered by accretion discs around black holes
with inner radii about thrice the Schwarchild radius, 3 × 2GM/c 2, it is suggestive that the 109M☼ black hole can
accrete about 40 M☼ mass per year to account for such high luminosity. The temperature at the inner radius is
about 2.4 × 105K, producing radiation in extreme UV to X-ray energies. Quasars are at large distances from us
and thus at large look-back times, hence are rare objects at present. They were most common about 10 Gyr
before. The central black hole in present day galaxies is accreting at low/moderate rates and thus quasars would
be extinct in future.
As one goes closer to the centre, the activity increases and there is evidence of very high rates of star formation.
But since the disk does not contain enough mass supply to continuously carry on star formation, the matter has
to come from outside the region. It is believed that interstellar gas accumulates at a rate of about 10−2M☼ for
some time (say 107 years) and the accumulated mass then collapses and a fresh star formation event is triggered
due to density waves. This is probably what is happening from time to time close to the centre of our galaxy.
One can easily compute the mass of the central compact object by using the well known Virial theorem: 2U + Ω
= 0, where U is the total kinetic energy and Ω is the total potential energy. That is, M <v2> + Ω = 0, where <v2>
M R 
R
is the mean square velocity and   G  dM R  . Using the above equations, we can easily determine the
0 R
enclosed mass at a given radius if we have stellar velocity data. In the adjoining figure, we see the enclosed
mass as a function of distance from the centre of the Galaxy. It is clear that even though there are no possible
measurements below R < 0.015pc, the enclosed mass seems to have converged to a fixed number. The mass can
be read out from the plot itself, it is 2.6 ×106M☼. The only acceptable solution seems to be that a massive black
hole of this mass resides at the centre.

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Dr. Partha Ghosh Department of Physics, Bangabasi College Kolkata

7. The make-up of our Universe: Galaxies are present together in groups; the groups make up clusters; and
clusters make up super clusters in form of walls, sheets, filaments and bubbles etc. surrounding large voids.
Groups are the smallest aggregates of galaxies. They typically contain no more than 50 galaxies in a diameter of
1 to 2 Mpc and total mass of approximately 1013M☼. The spread of velocities for the individual galaxies is
about 150 km/s. Groups are the most common structures, comprising at least 50% of the galaxies in the local
universe.
Clusters are larger than groups, although there is no sharp dividing line between the two. When observed
visually, clusters appear to be collections of galaxies held together by mutual gravitational attraction. However,
their velocities are too large for them to remain gravitationally bound by their mutual attractions, implying the
presence of either an additional invisible mass component, or an additional attractive force besides gravit y. X-
ray studies have revealed the presence of large amounts of intergalactic gas known as the intracluster medium.
This gas is very hot, between 107K and 108K, and hence emits X-rays in the form of bremsstrahlung and atomic
line emission. The total mass of the gas is greater than that of the galaxies by roughly a factor of two. However,
this is still not enough mass to keep the galaxies in the cluster. Since this gas is in approximate hydrostatic
equilibrium with the overall cluster gravitational field, the total mass distribution can be determined. It turns out
the total mass deduced from this measurement is approximately six times larger than the mass of the galaxies or
the hot gas. The missing component is the dark matter of unknown nature. In a typical cluster perhaps only 5%
of the total mass is in the form of galaxies, maybe 10% in the form of hot X-ray emitting gas and the remainder
is dark matter.

A supercluster is a large group of smaller galaxy clusters and is among the largest known structures of
the universe. The Milky Way is part of the Local Galaxy Group (which contains about 54 galaxies), which in
turn is part of the Virgo Cluster, which is again a part of the Laniakea Supercluster. The large size and low
density of superclusters means that they, unlike clusters, expand with the Hubble expansion. The number of
superclusters in the observable universe is estimated to be 10 million. The existence of superclusters indicates
that the galaxies in the Universe are not uniformly distributed; most of them are drawn together in groups and
clusters and finally into superclusters.
Superclusters form massive structures called "filaments", "supercluster complexes", "walls" or "sheets", that
may span between several hundred million light-years to 10 billion light-years, covering more than 5% of
the observable universe. Observations of superclusters can give information about the initial condition of the
universe, when these were created. The directions of the rotational axes of galaxies within superclusters are
studied by those who believe that they may give insight and information into the early formation process of
galaxies in the history of the Universe. Interspersed among superclusters are large voids of space where few
galaxies exist. Although superclusters are supposed to be the largest structures in the universe according to
the Cosmological principle, larger structures have been observed in surveys, including the Sloan Great Wall.
At about 100 Mpc distances, the Universe starts looking homogeneous.

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