Not sure if this is really Pit material, but since it’s more or less a rant against astronomy, of all things, I’ll dump it here.
Okay, recently (on Nova) I hear the term “supercluster” for the first time. Superclusters, I learn, are large groups of galaxies bound by gravity. The Milky Way is part of the Virgo supercluster.
I enjoy astrology, very casually, and this seems like basic stuff, but it is new to me. It’s as if I know I live in Pennsylvania, am vaguely aware of the United States, but have never heard of Canada. Or “Earth.” I figure I better bone up on the basics: the galaxies in our local group, other nearby local groups, and other nearby superclusters. So, when Regis asks me which of the following our sun does not belong to, I can say “B: the Macaroni Supercluster. The Macaroni Supercluster is our nearest neighboring supercluster, but our sun is part of the Virgo Supercluster. Everybody knows that. Final answer.” I’d like to point out at this point that I’ve already used the word “supercluster” 8 times, which is giving my spellcheck fits.
Anyway, I should just check the Internet, right? Geez. There are a few astronomy sites out there, huh? Most of them seem pretty unintelligible to people who aren’t already astronomy buffs, although a few of them look like they were slapped together by people whose only knowledge of astronomy came from catching the first 20 minutes of the same Nova episode that I saw. Maybe I should just post to the General Questions board. Nah, I’d get links to pages I don’t understand, jokes about superclusters with chocolate coatings and nougat centers, and inferences that I don’t know how to use Google. Okay, I’ll try to tough it out with the websites.
Here is what I found out before I gave up…
The Milky way is one of about 30 galaxies in our local group. Yes, about 30. We’re talking about galaxies here, which are hard to misplace, but we haven’t zeroed in on an exact number in our local group. Sort of like there have been about 40 US presidents, but no one knows the exact number for sure.
Our local group is named Local Group. Go fig. If you feel insecure from all those times that you’ve heard our sun is a nondescript star in a typical spiral galaxy, take heart: the Milky Way kicks ass in Local Group. Apart from Andromeda, all the rest of the galaxies are wimps. Most of them don’t even have names as exciting as “Local Group”. The Milky Way contains about 100 million stars. No, wait, the Milky Way contains at least 300 million stars. And, Milky Way and Andromeda are going to collide! No, they’re not! Yes they are!
Other groups of galaxies within our supercluster get lousy names. One such group is called M77 Group, but it also goes by the name NGC 1068 Group. Catchy. The most significant group in the Virgo Supercluster is the Virgo Cluster, which can be found in the direction of the constellation Virgo. Hmmm, that’s going to cause a little confusion. Mind if I call them all ‘Bruce’ to keep it clear? Local Group will eventually crash into Virgo Cluster! No, maybe not. Yes it will! It’s not clear if it will.
The Virgo Supercluster is the only supercluster that anyone talks about! Just try to find out about other superclusters. One site names another supercluster as the Great Wall and says that it is 250 million light years away. Some people believe that there are structures even larger than superclusters. If so, I presume the one that we are in will be called the Virgo Superdupercluster. But I’ll just call it Bruce.