The Perseus–Pisces Supercluster (SCl 40) is one of the largest known structures in the

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...

. Even at a distance of 250 million

light-year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

s, this chain of

galaxy cluster A galaxy cluster, or a cluster of galaxies, is a structure that consists of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are bound together by gravity, with typical masses ranging from 1014 to 1015 solar masses. They are the second-l ...

s extends more than 40° across the northern winter sky. The

Perseus In Greek mythology, Perseus (Help:IPA/English, /ˈpɜːrsiəs, -sjuːs/; Greek language, Greek: Περσεύς, Romanization of Greek, translit. Perseús) is the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus ...

Pisces Pisces may refer to: * Pisces, an obsolete (because of land vertebrates) taxonomic superclass including all fish * Pisces (astrology), an astrological sign * Pisces (constellation), a constellation **Pisces Overdensity, an overdensity of stars in ...

Supercluster A supercluster is a large group of smaller galaxy clusters or galaxy groups; they are among the largest known structures in the universe. The Milky Way is part of the Local Group galaxy group (which contains more than 54 galaxies), which in turn ...

is one of two dominant concentrations of

galaxies A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

(the other being the

Local supercluster The Virgo Supercluster (Virgo SC) or the Local Supercluster (LSC or LS) is a mass concentration of galaxies containing the Virgo Cluster and Local Group, which itself contains the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, as well as others. At leas ...

) in the nearby universe (within 300 million light years). This supercluster also borders a prominent void, the Taurus Void, and is part of the

Perseus–Pegasus Filament The Perseus–Pegasus Filament is a galaxy filament containing the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster and stretching for roughly a billion light-years (or over 300/h Mpc). Currently, it is considered to be one of the largest known structures in the ...

which stretches for roughly a billion

light year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

s.'Astrophysical Journal', Part 1 (), vol. 299, Dec. 1, 1985, p. 5-14. "A possible 300 megaparsec filament of clusters of galaxies in Perseus-Pegasus" ''12/1985''

Clusters

The main clusters of the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster are

Abell 262 Abell 262 is a galaxy cluster in the Abell catalogue. It is part of the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster, one of the largest known structures in the universe. Although its central galaxy, NGC 708, is a giant cD galaxy, most of its bright galaxies ...

, Abell 347, and Abell 426.

References

External links

Atlas of the universe page on the Perseus-Pisces Supercluster
Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex Galaxy superclusters {{supercluster-stub

Clusters

See also

References

External links