List of voids explained

This is a list of voids in astronomy. Voids are particularly galaxy-poor regions of space between filaments, making up the large-scale structure of the universe. Some voids are known as supervoids.

In the tables, z is the cosmological redshift, c the speed of light, and h the dimensionless Hubble parameter, which has a value of approximately 0.7 (the Hubble constant H0 = h × 100 km s−1 Mpc−1). Mpc stands for megaparsec.

The co-ordinates (right ascension and declination) and distance given refer to the approximate center of the region.

Voids and supervoids

Named voids

Namewidth=80ptCoordinatesDistancewidth=70ptDiameterDataNotes
Local Voidcz=2500 km/s60 Mpc[1]
Northern Local Supervoid61 Mpc104 MpcVirgo Supercluster, Coma Supercluster, Perseus–Pisces Supercluster, Ursa Major–Lynx Supercluster, Hydra–Centaurus Supercluster, Sculptor Supercluster, Pavo–Corona Australes Supercluster form a sheet between the Northern Local Supervoid and the Southern Local Supervoid.[2] The Hercules Supercluster separates the Northern Local Void from the Boötes Void. The Perseus–Pisces Supercluster and Pegasus Supercluster form a sheet separating the Northern Local Void and Southern Local Void from the Pegasus Void.
Southern Local Supervoid96 Mpc112 Mpc
Giant Voidz=0.116300-400 Mpc"Giant Void in NGH" or "AR-Lp 36"; NGH stands for "Northern Galactic Hemisphere"; discovered in 1988.[3] It is the largest void in the NGH where z<0.14.[4]
KBC Void600 MpcVoid containing the Milky Way and Local Group[5]
[6] [7]

Voids designated by their constellation

NameCoordinatesDistanceDiameterDataNotes
Boötes Void
(Great Void)
150 Mpc100 MpcThe Hercules Supercluster separates the Northern Local Void from the Boötes Void. The Hercules Supercluster thus forms part of the near edge of the Boötes Void.[8]
Canis Major Void
Columba Void
Coma VoidDiscovered in 1975, along with the Coma Supercluster, it lies in front of the Coma Cluster.[9] It was the first void to be discovered and is approximately 1/3 as far away as the much larger Boötes Void.[10]
Corona Borealis Void
Eridanus VoidThis void is separated from the Sculptor void by a sheet of galaxies.
Eridanus Supervoid
(Great Void)
z=1150 MpcThe claimed Eridanus Supervoid or "Great Void", reported on 24 August 2007 by the NRAO from Very Large Array Sky Survey data.[11] This void, if real, would be much larger than the others listed here (except the Giant Void), about 300 Mpc in diameter and 1800–3000 Mpc distant (where h is the dimensionless Hubble parameter). It would be associated with (and be the explanation of) a cold spot in the cosmic microwave background at the sky location.

The evidence for such a "Great Void" is disputed by Smith and Huterer.[12] They showed that the claims made of observational evidence for such a void from survey data neglected systematic effects and did not account for a posteriori choices made in analyzing data.

Southern Eridanus VoidThe Southern Eridanus void is connected to the Eridanus void by a hole in the distribution of galaxies separating the two. A hole in the distribution of galaxies separating Sculptor and Southern Eridanus voids the size of (redshift) 1250 km/s appears to exist.
Fornax Void
Hercules Voidcz=7000 km/s3100 km/s[13] Discovered in 1979[14]
Hydra VoidThe Hydra Void lies beyond the Hydra–Centaurus Supercluster
Leo Voidcz=4000 km/s[15]
Microscopium VoidA hole in the distribution of galaxies separating Sculptor and Microscopium voids the size of (redshift) 1250 km/s appears to exist. This is roughly 1/2 of Microscopium's diameter.
Ophiuchus Voidnear < 5000 km/s (the outer limit)perhaps 0–5000 km/s25% of average universe density is the void density of matter.
The far end of this void is defined by the Ophiuchus Supercluster.[16]
Pegasus Voidcz=5500 km/s40 Mpc[17] The Perseus–Pisces Supercluster and Pegasus Supercluster form a sheet separate the Northern Local Void and Southern Local Void from the Pegasus Void.
Perseus–Pisces Voidcz=8000 km/s3000 km/sDiscovered in 1980, it is also called the Perseus Void
Sagittarius Void
Sculptor Void34.8 Mpc/hCorresponds to SRSS1 Void 3 and SRSS2 Void 5[18] This void is separated from the Eridanus Void by a sheet of galaxies. A hole in the distribution of galaxies separating Sculptor and Southern Eridanus Voids the size of 1250 km/s appears to exist.[19] The Sculptor Void lies next to the Southern Wall or Southern Great Wall.
Taurus Void30 MpcThe Taurus Void appears large and circular, and has walls of galaxies surrounding it. It lies next to the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster, and is the most visually identifiable. Several galaxies have been found to reside in the void, such as UGC 2627 and UGC 2629, both approximately 185 million light years away.[20]

Other voids

Voids by search or survey

Tully list

In 1985, Tully determined a local dominant supercluster plane, and found the Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex.[22]

CoordinatesDistanceDiameterNotes
(Mpc)
190140
2100136
3150150
4170173
5180158Boötes Void
6190171
7190174
8250170
9280229
10310243
11310270

B&B Abell-derived list

In a 1985 study of Abell clusters, 29 voids were determined, in the sphere z<0.1 around Earth.[23]

CoordinatesDistanceDiameterNotes
(Mpc)
1293100
2276100
3284100
4275150
5300100
6220100
7180120
8137140
9262200
10285110
11219110
12293120
13206110
14276100
15272150
16237100
17105110
18154200Boötes Void
19297110
20265210
21283160
22286140
23295110
24291130
25110100
26237100
27155130
28284160
29203120

SSRS1 list

A redshift survey of galaxies in the southern sky in 1988, out to a distance of 120 Mpc/h, revealed some voids.[24]

CoordinatesDistance
(V)
Dimensions
W × H × D
(Mpc)
ConstellationNotes
13000 km/s30 × 30 × 40Phoenix/EridanusLocated just behind the galaxy concentration in Eridanus-Fornax-Dorado
25000 km/s30 × 30 × 30Capricornus/Microscopium
36000 km/s70 × 30 × 50Sculptor/Grus
49000 km/s50 × 100 × 50Horologium/Eridanus

SSRS2 list

In 1994, a redshift survey in the southern sky identified 18 voids, 11 of which are major voids.

CoordinatesDistance
(r)
Diameter
(Mpc)
ConstellationNotes
185.754.3Cetusmajor void
299.756.2Fornaxmajor void SRSS1 Void 4
3107.260.8Aquariusmajor void
466.735.6Capricornusmajor void
553.034.8Aquarius/Sculptormajor void SRSS1 Void 3 (Sculptor Void)
656.532.0Eridanusmajor void
777.225.5Eridanusmajor void
883.927.8Aquariusmajor void
9114.639.0Eridanusmajor void
10104.734.8Cetusmajor void
11112.842.9Sculptormajor void
1274.825.0Piscis Austrinus/Sculptor
1331.022.1CetusSRSS1 Void 1
1487.221.3Piscis Austrinus/Microscopium
15116.127.3Microscopium
1636.520.3Capricornus
1732.119.0Eridanus
1885.921.1Eridanus

1994 EEDTA Whole Sky Survey

A 1994 census lists a total of 27 supervoids within a cube of 740 Mpc a side, centered on us (z=0.1 distant sphere).[25]

Coordinates
(B1950.0)
Distance
(Mpc/h)
Diameter
(Mpc/h)
[26]
Notes
119.0° 13488
228.2° 20796
334.8° 21672
436.6° 24186
537.8° 12992
646.0° 23672
762.0° 248100
871.2° 20176
9121.7° 96112Southern Local Supervoid
10130.0° 246144
11140.4° 16092
12146.9° 227106
13153.1° 24694
14159.9° 16768
15161.6° 24198
16167.4° 22274
17186.9° 21694
18196.8° 119102
19204.8° 119108
20214.6° 21678Boötes Void
(Great Void)
21216.7° 143116
22219.8° 24696
23220.2° 21972
24256.1° 61104Northern Local Supervoid
25353.0° 19874
26356.6° 24680
27358.9° 24170

Galactic Anti-Center IRAS search

In a 1995 study of IRAS data looking for large-scale structure in the Galactic Anticenter in the Zone of Avoidance, four voids were discovered.[27]

Coordinates
(B1950.0)
Distance
(km/s)
DimensionsNotes
V0100096°×36°×2000 km/s
V1375015°×36°×3500 km/sV1 and V2 are connected, and block the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster from traversing the Zone of Avoidance.
V2800025°×14°×2000 km/sV1 and V2 are connected, and block the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster from traversing the Zone of Avoidance.
V3700030°×20°×2000 km/sThis void lies in front of the CfA2 Great Wall.

IRAS list

Analysis of the IRAS redshift survey in 1997 revealed 24 voids, 12 of which were termed "significant"[28]

Supergalactic Coordinates
(r,X,Y,Z)
Diameter
(Mpc)
DataNotes
1(55.2,-10.4,-53.8,6.1)51.0significant void
2(49.6,-25.3,31.4,-28.9)43.8significant void
3(46.0,-24.8,26.7,28.1)44.5significant void
4(46.5,8.7,24.7,38.4)45.0significant void (Local Void)
5(32.0,-13.0,-23.9,-16.9)36.0significant void
6(51.5,17.0,-32.2,36.4)41.4significant void
7(57.1,31.2,44.9,16.5)43.5significant void
8(60.4,-25.8,-22.7,-49.7)39.5significant void
9(49.8,35.9,-25.6,-23.0)36.0significant void
10(63.3,-48.0,-40.9,6.0)33.6significant void (Sculptor Void)
11(48.6,11.8,46.6,-6.9)32.0significant void
12(49.9,-15.6,-35.7,31.3)31.5significant void
13(62.8,14.2,29.3,-53.7)40.3
14(19.0,0.7,-16.4,9.6)28.8
15(37.6,32.4,-17.0,8.6)30.4Perseus–Pisces Void

See also

Notes

  1. Nakanishi. Kouichiro. Takata. Tadafumi. Yamada. Toru. Takeuchi. Tsutomu T.. Shiroya. Ryuichi. Miyazawa. Morio. Watanabe. Shigeo. Saitō. Mamoru. 1. October 1997. Search and Redshift Survey for IRAS Galaxies behind the Milky Way and Structure of the Local Void. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 112. 2. 245–270. 1997ApJS..112..245N. 10.1086/313039. free.
  2. Einasto. Jaan. Jaan Einasto. Einasto. Maret. Gramann. Mirt. May 1989. Structure and formation of superclusters – IX - Self-similarity of voids. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 238. 155–177. 1989MNRAS.238..155E. 10.1093/mnras/238.1.155. free.
  3. "The Northern Cone of Metagalaxy" (Kopylov et al. 1988)
  4. Kopylov. A. I.. Kopylova. F. G.. February 2002. Search for streaming motion of galaxy clusters around the Giant Void. live. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 382. 2. 389–396. 2002A&A...382..389K. 10.1051/0004-6361:20011500. https://web.archive.org/web/20180718223712/https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2002/05/aa1614.pdf. 18 July 2018. free.
  5. Keenan. Ryan C.. Barger. Amy J.. Amy Barger. Cowie. Lennox L.. Lennox Cowie. 20 September 2013. Evidence for a ~300 Mpc Scale Under-density in the Local Galaxy Distribution. The Astrophysical Journal. 775. 1. 62. 1304.2884. 2013ApJ...775...62K. 10.1088/0004-637X/775/1/62. 118433293.
  6. SIMBAD, "list of objects in '*void' wildcard search" (accessed 15 September 2009)
  7. SIMBAD, "list of objects of type 'vid'" (accessed 15 September 2009)
  8. Freudling. Wolfram. Martel. Hugo. Haynes. Martha P.. Martha P. Haynes. 20 August 1991. The Peculiar Velocity Field in the Hercules Region. The Astrophysical Journal. 377. 349–364. 1991ApJ...377..349F. 10.1086/170366.
  9. Rood. Herbert J.. September 1988. Supplemental Topics on Voids. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 100. 631. 1071–1075. 1988PASP..100.1071R. 10.1086/132272. 40679326. free.
  10. Gregory. Stephen A.. November 1988. VII. Redshift Surveys of Emission-Line Galaxies. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 100. 633. 1340–1342. 1988PASP..100.1340G. 10.1086/132330. 40679225. free.
  11. Astronomers Find Enormous Hole in the Universe. 23 August 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20170516042011/https://www.nrao.edu/pr/2007/coldspot/. 16 May 2017. live. National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
  12. Smith. Kendrick M.. Huterer. Dragan. 8 March 2010. No evidence for the cold spot in the NVSS radio survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 403. 1. 2–8. 0805.2751. 2010MNRAS.403....2S. 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15732.x. free.
  13. Freudling. Wolfram. September 1989. An Upper Limit on Streaming Motion Around the Hercules Void. Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society. 21. 1140. 1989BAAS...21.1140F.
  14. Krumm. Nathan Allyn. Brosch. Noah. Noah Brosch. October 1984. Neutral Hydrogen in Cosmic Voids. The Astronomical Journal. 89. 10. 1461–1463. 1984AJ.....89.1461K. 10.1086/113647. free.
  15. Willmer. Christopher N. A.. da Costa. Luiz Nicolaci. Pellegrini. Paulo S.. Fairall. Anthony Patrick. Anthony Patrick Fairall. Latham. David W.. Freudling. Wolfram. January 1995. The Hydra–Centaurus region and the nearby universe. The Astronomical Journal. 109. 1669. 61–72. 1995AJ....109...61W. 10.1086/117256. free.
  16. Hasegawa. Takashi. Wakamatsu. Ken-ichi. Malkan. Matthew. Sekiguchi. Kazuhiro. Menzies. John W.. Parker. Quentin A.. Jugaku. Jun. Karoji. Hiroshi. Okamura. Sadanori. 1. August 2000. Large-scale structure of galaxies in the Ophiuchus region. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 316. 2. 326–344. 2000MNRAS.316..326H. 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2000.03531.x. free.
  17. Pustilnik. Simon A.. Engels. Dieter. Kniazev. Alexei Yu. Pramskij. Alexander G.. Ugryumov. Andrei V.. Hagen. Hans-Jürgen. 1. April 2006. HS 2134+0400—a new very metal-poor galaxy, a representative of the void population?. Astronomy Letters. 32. 4. 228–235. astro-ph/0508255. 2006AstL...32..228P. 10.1134/S1063773706040025. 6215394.
  18. El-Ad. Hagai. Piran. Tsvi. Tsvi Piran. 20 December 1997. Voids in the Large-Scale Structure. The Astrophysical Journal. 491. 2. 421–435. astro-ph/9702135. 1997ApJ...491..421E. 10.1086/304973. free.
  19. Maurellis. A.. Fairall. Anthony P.. Anthony Patrick Fairall. Matravers. David R.. Ellis. George F. R.. George F. R. Ellis. March 1990. A two-dimensional sheet of galaxies between two southern voids. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 229. 75–79. 1990A&A...229...75M.
  20. NASA, "Cosmic Distance Scale"
  21. Bahcall. Neta A.. Neta Bahcall. Soneira. Raymond M.. 15 November 1982. A ~ 300 MPC Void of Rich Clusters of Galaxies?. The Astrophysical Journal. 262. 419–423. 1982ApJ...262..419B. 10.1086/160436. free.
  22. Tully. R. Brent. R. Brent Tully. 1 April 1986. Alignment of Clusters and Galaxies on Scales Up To 0.1c. The Astrophysical Journal. 303. 25–38. 1986ApJ...303...25T. 10.1086/164049.
  23. Batuskivol. David J.. Burns. Jack O.. August 1985. Finding Lists of Candidate Superclusters and Voids of Abell Clusters. The Astronomical Journal. 90. 8. 1413–1424. 1985AJ.....90.1413B. 10.1086/113849. free.
  24. da Costa. Luiz Nicolaci. Pellegrini. Paulo S.. Sargent. Wallace L. W. Wallace L. W. Sargent. Tonry. John L.. Davis. Marc. Marc Davis (astronomer). Meiksin. Avery. Latham. David W.. Menzies. John W.. Coulson. I. A.. 1. 15 April 1988. The Southern Sky Redshift Survey. The Astrophysical Journal. 327. 544–560. 1988ApJ...327..544D. 10.1086/166215. free.
  25. Einasto . Maret . The Structure of the Universe Traced by Rich Clusters of Galaxies . . 269 . 2 . 15 July 1994 . Einasto . Jaan . Jaan Einasto . Tago . Erik . Dalton . Gavin B. . Andernach . Heinz . 301–322 . 1994MNRAS.269..301E . 10.1093/mnras/269.2.301 . free .
  26. This is the diameter of the largest sphere one can describe inside the void that contains no superclusters. Some voids have an elongated shape, so this diameter may underrepresent the size of some voids.
  27. Lu. Nanyao Y.. Freudling. Wolfram. 20 August 1995. Large-Scale Structures in the Zone of Avoidance: The Galactic Anticenter Region. The Astrophysical Journal. 449. 527–549. 1995ApJ...449..527L. 10.1086/176077. free.
  28. El-Ad. Hagai. Piran. Tsvi. Tsvi Piran. da Costa. Luiz Nicolaci. June 1997. A catalogue of the voids in the IRAS 1.2-Jy survey. live. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 287. 4. 790–798. astro-ph/9608022. 1997MNRAS.287..790E. 10.1093/mnras/287.4.790. free . https://web.archive.org/web/20200512130516/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/25199479.pdf. 12 May 2020.