Laniakea Supercluster

The Laneikea Supercluster (Hawaiian for "open skies" or "immense heaven") also known as the Local Supercluster is the large galaxy supercluster that contains the Virgo Supercluster and the Local Group. At least 100,000 galaxies and clusters are in it.

A map of the Laniakea Supercluster and its component galaxy clusters

The diameter of Laneikea SC is over 160 mega-parsecs (520 million light-years)

Backround

It was discovered in September 2014, when a group of astronomers at the universities published a new method of defining superclusters. The new definition of the local supercluster containes the Virgo and the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster. The former being the defined local supercluster.

Structure

The Laniakea Supercluster contains:

• Virgo Supercluster, the supercluster where the Milky Way is located
• Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster
  • the Great Attractor
  • Antlia Wall, known as Hydra Supercluster
  • Pavo-Indus Supercluster
  • Southern Supercluster with Fornax Cluster, Dorado and Eridinarus clusters.

The Laneikea Supercluster is a part of the Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex