Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 20:35:49 -0400
From: mark <whitroth at 5-cent.us>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: [WSFA] New Map Reveals Universe Arranged Like a "Sponge"
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Also, it seems that the local group is also arranged in a sheet... or, I'd
guess, in a spiral.

Excerpt:
A new map showing the Milky Way and surrounding galaxies has shown matter
in the universe is arranged like a sponge, according to Marshall McCall, a
physics and astronomy professor at York University in Toronto, Canada.

"Recent surveys of the more distant universe have revealed that galaxies
lie in sheets and filaments with large regions of empty space called voids
in between," McCall said in a news release. "The geometry is like that of
a sponge. What the new map reveals is that structure akin to that seen on
large scales extends down to the smallest."

McCall's latest effort --- to plot out bright galaxies within 35-million
light years of us in order to better envision where Earth, amid the Milky
Way collection of stars and planets and other phenomena, is located in
relation to its galactic neighbors ---has found galaxies are positioned
along relatively thin stretches of space surrounded by dark matter.

The study has been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Society. See a video depiction of Marshall McCall's findings
here:http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/69916.php?from=262270

"All bright galaxies within 20 million light years, including us, are
organized in a 'Local Sheet' 34-million light years across and only
1.5-million light years thick," he said. "The Milky Way and Andromeda are
encircled by twelve large galaxies arranged in a ring about 24-million
light years across - this 'Council of Giants' stands in gravitational
judgment of the Local Group by restricting its range of influence."
--- end excerpt ---

<http://www.latinpost.com/articles/8743/20140311/new-map-reveals-universe-arranged-like-sponge.htm>

        mark