Galaxy

:This article is about celestial bodies. For alternate meanings, see galaxy (disambiguation).

Larger scale structures

Only few galaxies exist by themselves; these are known as field galaxies. Most galaxies are gravitationally bound to a number of other galaxies. Structures containing up to about 50 galaxies are called groups of galaxies, and larger structures containing many thousands of galaxies packed into an area a few megaparsecs across are called clusters. Clusters of galaxies are often dominated by a single giant elliptical galaxy, which over time tidally destroys its satellite galaxies and adds their mass to its own. Superclusters are giant collections containing tens of thousands of galaxies, found in clusters, groups and sometimes individually; at the supercluster scale, galaxies are arranged into sheets and filaments surrounding vast empty voids. Above this scale, the universe appears to be isotropic and homogeneous.

Related Topics:
Groups of galaxies - Megaparsec - Elliptical galaxy - Supercluster - Supercluster scale - Sheets - Filaments - Voids - Isotropic - Homogeneous

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Our galaxy is a member of the Local Group, which it dominates together with the Andromeda Galaxy; overall the Local Group contains about 30 galaxies in a space about one megaparsec across. The Local Group is part of the Virgo Supercluster, which is dominated by the Virgo Cluster (of which our Galaxy is not a member).

Related Topics:
Local Group - Andromeda Galaxy - One megaparsec - Virgo Supercluster - Virgo Cluster

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