Shapley Supercluster facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Shapley Supercluster |
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A map of the Shapley Supercluster
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| Observation data (Epoch J2000) | |
| Constellation(s) | Centaurus |
| Right ascension | 13h 25m |
| Declination | -30° 0′ 0″ |
| Distance (co-moving) |
200 Mpc (652 Mly) |
| Other designations | |
| Shapley Concentration, SCl 124 | |
The Shapley Supercluster is a huge group of galaxies. It is also known as the Shapley Concentration or SCl 124. This supercluster is the biggest collection of galaxies close to our universe.
It is so massive that its own gravity pulls it together. This means it is not expanding away with the rest of the universe. The Shapley Supercluster looks like a very bright, dense area of galaxies. You can find it in the constellation of Centaurus. It is about 650 million light-years away from Earth.
Discovering the Shapley Supercluster
In the late 1920s, an astronomer named Harlow Shapley began studying galaxies. He worked with his team at the Harvard College Observatory. They used special cameras and a large telescope in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Shapley found a "cloud" of galaxies in the Centaurus constellation. This cloud was the most amazing group of galaxies he had ever seen.
Later, scientists at the University of Cambridge in England rediscovered this supercluster. They were doing their own survey of galaxies. They decided to name the supercluster after Shapley. This was to honor his important early work. Around the same time, other scientists also noticed this huge group of galaxies. They called it the Alpha concentration.
Images for kids
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A map of the Shapley Supercluster
