Void (astronomy) facts for kids

Nearby superclusters and voids

In astronomy, voids are the empty spaces between filaments. Both filaments and Voids are one of the largest-scale structures in the Universe. There are no or few galaxies in voids. Most voids have a diameter of 11 to 150 Mpc. Especially large voids are the empty spaces without many superclusters. These voids are sometimes called supervoids.

A 1994 official counting ("The structure of the Universe traced by rich clusters of galaxies.", see References) lists a total of 27 supervoids with a distance of up to 740 Mpc. Some of supervoids chosen from the list are given below.

1. U. Lindner, J. Einasto, M. Einasto, W. Freudling, K. Fricke, E. Tago: The structure of supervoids. I. Void hierarchy in the Northern Local Supervoid., Astron. Astrophys., v.301, p.329 (1995)
2. M. Einasto, J. Einasto, E. Tago, G. B. Dalton, H Andernach: The structure of the Universe traced by rich clusters of galaxies., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 269, 301 (1994)

Images for kids

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  Matter distribution in a cubic section of the universe. The blue fiber structures represent the matter (primarily dark matter) and the empty regions in between represent the cosmic voids.

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  A 43×43×43-megaparsec cube shows the evolution of the large-scale structure over a logarithmic period starting from a redshift of 30 and ending at redshift 0. The model makes it clear to see how the matter-dense regions contract under the collective gravitational force while simultaneously aiding in the expansion of cosmic voids as the matter flees to the walls and filaments.

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  CMB screening of the universe.

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  A map of galaxy voids

See also

In Spanish: Vacío (astronomía) para niños