astronomy

Southern Supercluster Strand

Southern Supercluster Strand is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Southern Supercluster Strand rather than just read about it. In short: The Southern Supercluster Strand is a galaxy filament that encompasses the Southern Supercluster and the Telescopium−Grus Cloud. In 2014, it was announced that the Southern Supercluster Strand is a lobe in a greater supercluster, Laniakea, that is centered on the Great Attractor.

Key takeaways

Southern Supercluster Strand belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Southern Supercluster Strand to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Southern Supercluster Strand from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Southern Supercluster Strand is a galaxy filament that encompasses the Southern Supercluster and the Telescopium−Grus Cloud. In 2014, it was announced that the Southern Supercluster Strand is a lobe in a greater supercluster, Laniakea, that is centered on the Great Attractor. This would mean that the Southern Supercluster Strand's components, the Telescopium−Grus Cloud and the Southern Supercluster would be part of this new supercluster. The Virgo Supercluster would also be part of this greater supercluster, thus becoming the local supercluster.

Physical characteristics The Southern Supercluster Strand is a galaxy filament that emerges from the Centaurus Cluster. The filament then branches off into two forks, SSCa, and SSCb, also known as the Southern Supercluster and the Telescopium−Grus Cloud respectively. The Southern Supercluster is a long major chain of galaxies, consisting of the major Dorado, Fornax, and Eridanus clusters while the Telescopium−Grus Cloud is a low density galaxy filament, with no central concentration of galaxies. The Telescopium−Grus Cloud along with the Pavo-Indus Supercluster form parts of a wall bounding the Local Void. Likewise, both structures along with the Southern Supercluster also form a wall bounding the Sculptor Void. The Southern Supercluster Srand extends all the way to the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster. The Southern Supercluster Strand, along with the Centaurus–Puppis–PP filament, which contains the Antila Wall and both extend to the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster, form a wall bounding the Sculptor Void.

Cetus-Aries Cloud The Cetus-Aries Cloud, is a minor filament that was identified and described in 1987 by astronomer Brent Tully with colleague Richard Fisher in his book The Nearby Galaxies Atlas, and connects the Southern Supercluster with the Telescopium−Grus Cloud.

List of Groups Below is a list of groups in the Cetus-Aries Cloud according to astronomer Brent Tully.

Column 1: The name of the group in Tully's NBGC Column 2: The right ascension for epoch 2000. Column 3: The declination for epoch 2000. Column 4: Number of members of the group. Column 5: Brightest member of the group Column 6: Redshift of the group. Column 7: Distance of the group (Millions of light-years). Column 8: Cross-Identifications with other catalogs. (Sources for data columns:)

Observational history Before the Southern Supercluster Strand was identified, its two major components were already known: the Southern Supercluster which was discovered in 1953 by astronomer Gérard de Vaucouleurs, and the Telescopium−Grus Cloud which was discovered by astronomer Brent Tully with colleague Richard Fisher in 1987. In 1987, astronomer Brent Tully with colleague Richard Fisher discovered and described the Cetus-Aries Cloud, a minor filament that connects the Southern Supercluster with the Telescopium−Grus Cloud. In 1992, Fouque et al. grouped the Cetus-Aries Cloud, also known as cloud 52 in the book The Nearby Galaxies Atlas along with the Southern Supercluster's three major clusters, the Fornax, Eridanus, and Dorado clusters (clouds 51 and 53). In 2013, Courtois et al. discovered based on the distribution of galaxies inferred from their redshifts the Southern Supercluster Strand, which branches off into two forks that emerge from the Centaurus Cluster. These two forks were designated SSCa and SSCb, also known as the Southern Supercluster and the Telescopium−Grus Cloud. In 2017, Pomarède et al. revealed that the Southern Supercluster strand along with another filament known as the Antlia Strand, extend all the way to the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster.

See also Large-scale structure of the universe Galaxy filament

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Southern Supercluster Strand

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Southern Supercluster Strand claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Southern Supercluster Strand before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Southern Supercluster Strand ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Southern Supercluster Strand

In research: Southern Supercluster Strand appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Southern Supercluster Strand in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Southern Supercluster Strand is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Astronomical objects discovered in 2013, Galaxy filaments, Large-scale structure of the cosmos, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Southern Supercluster Strand outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Southern Supercluster Strand in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Southern Supercluster Strand means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Southern Supercluster Strand out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Southern Supercluster Strand in simple terms?

Why does Southern Supercluster Strand matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Southern Supercluster Strand?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Southern Supercluster Strand.