Astronomers call the Shapley Concentration the “basin of attraction”: it is a region that acts as an attractor and includes the largest concentration of matter in the local Universe.
If you want to find your place in the Universe, start from your cosmic address. You live on Earth, therefore in the Solar System, which is part of the Milky Way, a galaxy which in turn is located in the Local Cluster, part of the Virgo Supercluster, part of a large-scale cosmic structure called Heaven. Thanks to recent observations, astronomers now believe that all those places are part of an even larger cosmic structure called Shapley concentration.
What is Shapley Concentration
Astronomers define the Shapley Concentration as a real “basin of attraction”. It is a mass-charged region that acts as an attractor. It is a region that contains many clusters and groups of galaxies and includes the largest concentration of matter in the local Universe. All these galaxies, , lend their gravitational influence to Concentration. There are many such basins in the Universe, including Laniakea, in fact. Astronomers are working to examine them more precisely, which should help provide a more precise map of the largest structures in the Universe.
What scientists have discovered about our galaxy
A team of scientists, led by astronomer R. Brent Tully of the University of Hawaii, measured the movements of about 56,000 galaxies to understand these basins and their distribution in space. “Our Universe is like a giant spider web, in which galaxies are arranged along filaments and grouped into nodes, where gravitational forces,” Tully explained. “Just as water flows within river basins, galaxies flow within cosmic basins of attraction. The discovery of these larger basins could radically change our understanding of cosmic structure,” he concluded.
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