Virgo Supercluster

The Virgo Supercluster is a concentration of galaxies centered on the Virgo Cluster. It includes the Local Group, the Milky Way’s galactic home.

Virgo Cluster: A massive galaxy cluster in the constellation Virgo, near the center of the Virgo Supercluster. It is the supercluster’s central concentration and gives the structure its name.
Peculiar velocity: An object's velocity relative to the smooth expansion of the universe. It helps distinguish galaxies falling toward Virgo from those carried by cosmic expansion.
Gerard de Vaucouleurs: A French-American astronomer who studied the structure and dynamics of nearby galaxies. He developed the classic picture of the Local Supercluster centered on Virgo.
Laniakea Supercluster: A large region of galaxies defined by coherent gravitational flows and containing the Virgo Supercluster. It is the broader flow-defined structure that includes the Virgo Supercluster.
Local Group: The small galaxy group containing the Milky Way, Andromeda Galaxy, and dozens of dwarf galaxies. It is the group of galaxies that places the Milky Way inside the supercluster.
Hubble flow: The apparent recession of distant galaxies caused by the expansion of space. Its outward motion competes with the Virgo region’s gravitational pull.
Local Supercluster: The historical name for the nearby concentration of galaxies centered on the Virgo Cluster. It is the earlier, commonly used name for the Virgo Supercluster.
Shapley Supercluster: A massive concentration of galaxy clusters in the direction of the constellation Centaurus. It provides a distant example of a denser and more massive supercluster-scale concentration.
Milky Way: The barred spiral galaxy containing the Solar System and several hundred billion stars. It belongs to the Local Group, one of the supercluster’s constituent galaxy groups.
Virgo infall: The motion of nearby galaxies toward the Virgo Cluster under its gravitational attraction. This measured flow shows the cluster’s influence extending across the supercluster.

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