astronomy

Vela Supercluster

Vela Supercluster 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 Vela Supercluster rather than just read about it. In short: The Vela Supercluster (Vela SCl, VSCL) is a massive galactic supercluster about 265.5 megaparsecs (870 million light-years) away within the vicinity of the Zone of Avoidance, centered on the constellation Vela. It is one of the largest structures found in the universe, covering about 25 × 20 degrees of the sky.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

The Vela Supercluster (Vela SCl, VSCL) is a massive galactic supercluster about 265.5 megaparsecs (870 million light-years) away within the vicinity of the Zone of Avoidance, centered on the constellation Vela. It is one of the largest structures found in the universe, covering about 25 × 20 degrees of the sky. It consists of two walls: a broad main wall and a secondary merging wall. The combined dimensions of the walls are 115 km/s Mpc on the major dimensions and 90 km/s Mpc on the minor ones, which corresponds to about 385 million and 300 million light years, respectively. It is about 1,000 times the mass of the Milky Way galaxy, which corresponds to a mass of 1 × 1015 M☉. About 20 initial galaxy clusters have been identified spectroscopically.

Supercluster The supercluster's discovery was reported in December 2016 by Kraan-Korteweg et al. through an analysis of the redshifts of 4500 galaxies from the combined data of the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey which uses the AAOmega fiber optics from the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO), and the South African Large Telescope (SALT). The supercluster is located in a region obstructed by the view of the Milky Way's disc due to our position inside the disc. This region is known colloquially as the Zone of Avoidance. Hence, the supercluster can only be studied at longer wavelengths (infrared, microwave, radio) which can pass through the gases and dust of the Milky Way disc. The paper reporting the discovery describes the supercluster as Terra incognita (Latin for "unknown land"), "an unknown great continent in the nearby Universe whose outline we are only beginning to discern." More comprehensive surveys in the future, such as the Taipan Galaxy Surveys, are expected to provide additional data about the supercluster.

See also CfA2 Great Wall Norma Cluster Virgo Supercluster List of largest cosmic structures

Further reading Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg; Thomas H. Jarrett; Ahmed Elagali; Michelle E. Cluver; Maciej Bilicki; Matthew M. Colless (2015). "The Unveiling of the newly discovered Vela Supercluster". Proceedings of SALT Science Conference 2015 — PoS(SSC2015) (PDF) (published June 2015). p. 40. Bibcode:2015salt.confE..40K. doi:10.22323/1.250.0040.

References

External links Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg (July 2016). "Discovery of a massive Supercluster in Vela" (PDF). XIIth Rencontres du Vietnam: Large Scale Structure and Galaxy Flows (Quy Nhon, Vietnam). Centre de Physique Théorique; Université de Toulon. Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg (June 2015). "The Unveiling of the newly discovered Vela Supercluster" (PDF). SALT Science Conference (Stellenbosch). SALT Science Conference 2015; Southern African Large Telescope.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Vela Supercluster

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Vela Supercluster 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 Vela Supercluster 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 Vela Supercluster 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 Vela Supercluster

In research: Vela Supercluster 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 Vela Supercluster 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: Vela Supercluster is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Astronomical objects discovered in 2016, Galaxy superclusters, Vela (constellation), so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Vela Supercluster 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 Vela Supercluster in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Vela Supercluster 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 Vela Supercluster out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Vela Supercluster in simple terms?

Why does Vela Supercluster 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 Vela Supercluster?

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 Vela Supercluster.