The universe is full of mysteries, and astronomers have been working tirelessly to uncover them. One of the biggest mysteries that has been recently discovered is the Great Attractor – a massive force located deep in the universe that is pulling everything towards it, including our very own Milky Way. But what exactly is this force, and could it be a threat to the entire universe? Let’s dive into the details.
Located outside the Milky Way, in the direction of the Constellation Centaurus, the Great Attractor has been shrouded in mystery for years. It’s located in the Zone of Avoidance, which makes it difficult to observe from Earth. But thanks to the development of X-ray and radio astronomy, scientists have been able to explore this elusive region.
The Great Attractor is estimated to have a diameter of about 300 million light-years, and its center lies about 147 million light-years away from Earth. At the center of the Laniakea Supercluster, the Great Attractor is a massive force that is responsible for the movement of galaxies towards the center of the local group of galaxies.
Initially, scientists believed that the Great Attractor had a mass of more than 10 million billion times that of the Sun. However, further studies revealed that its mass was only one-tenth of the original estimate. This was due to the Malmquist bias, where only the brightest objects in a region can be seen, leading to an overestimation of the number of galaxies in the region.
Despite the lower mass, the Great Attractor is still a powerful force that is pulling local clusters of galaxies towards it. So what is causing this force? Scientists have found that the Shapley Supercluster, located 650 million light-years from Earth, has an insane amount of gravity that is pulling celestial bodies away from the Dipole Repeller – a region of extremely low density located in the opposite direction from the Shapley Supercluster.
This discovery has led to more questions than answers. Is the Great Attractor a mirage, or is it a real force that is pulling galaxies towards it? What is causing the immense gravity of the Shapley Supercluster? Could this force be a threat to the entire universe?
As we continue to explore the universe, we are sure to uncover more mysteries that will challenge our understanding of the cosmos. The Great Attractor is just one example of the incredible discoveries that await us, and we can’t wait to see what other secrets the universe holds.
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