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CfA2 Great Wall
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{{Short description|Immense galaxy filament}} {{redirect|Great Wall of Galaxies|other "great walls" of galaxies|Great Wall (disambiguation)}} The '''Great Wall''' (also called '''Coma Wall'''), sometimes specifically referred to as the '''CfA2 Great Wall''', is an immense [[galaxy filament]]. It is one of the [[List of largest cosmic structures|largest known superstructures]] in the [[observable universe]]. This structure was discovered c. 1989 by a team of [[United States|American]] [[astronomer]]s led by [[Margaret J. Geller]] and [[John Huchra]] while analyzing data gathered by the second [[CfA Redshift Survey]] of the [[Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics|Center for Astrophysics {{!}} Harvard & Smithsonian]] (CfA). ==Characteristics== According to Chown, "The filament is about 300 million lightyears wide, 15 million lightyears thick and it snakes for at least 500 million lightyears across the Universe."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Chown |first1=Marcus |title=CfA2 Great Wall of galaxies |url=https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/cfa2-great-wall-galaxies |website=Sky at Night Magazine |publisher=BBC |access-date=13 May 2025 |date=2024}}</ref> ==Components== [[File:Nearsc.gif|thumb|400px|The Great Wall includes clusters Hercules, Coma and Leo on the right of this view of the local universe.]] It was discovered in 1989 by [[Margaret Geller]] and [[John Huchra]] based on [[redshift survey]] data from the [[CfA Redshift Survey]].<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.246.4932.897 | volume = 246 | issue = 4932 | pages = 897–903 | last = Geller | first = Margaret J. |author2=John P. Huchra | title = Mapping the Universe | journal = Science | access-date = 2011-05-03 | date = 1989-11-17 | url = https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.246.4932.897 |bibcode = 1989Sci...246..897G | pmid=17812575| s2cid = 31328798 | url-access = subscription }}</ref> It is not known how much further the wall extends due to the light absorption in the plane of the [[Milky Way]] [[galaxy]] where Earth is located. The [[Interstellar medium|gas and dust]] from the Milky Way (known as the [[Zone of Avoidance]]) obscure the view of astronomers and have so far made it impossible to determine if the wall ends or continues on further than they can currently observe. In the [[Lambda-CDM model|standard model]] of the evolution of the universe, such structures as the Great Wall form along and follow [[Galaxy filament|web-like strings]] of [[dark matter]].<ref>{{Cite book | publisher = W H Freeman & Co (Sd) | isbn = 978-0-7167-2157-4 |author1-link=Michael Riordan (physicist) | last = Riordan | first = Michael | author2 = David N. Schramm |author2-link=David Schramm (astrophysicist) | title = Shadows of Creation: Dark Matter and the Structure of the Universe | date = 1991 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/shadowsofcreatio0000rior }}</ref> It is thought that this dark matter dictates the structure of the Universe on the grandest of scales. Dark matter gravitationally attracts [[baryon]]ic matter, and it is this "normal" matter that astronomers see forming long, thin walls of super-galactic clusters. ==See also== {{Portal|Astronomy}} * [[Hercules–Corona_Borealis Great Wall]] * [[List of largest cosmic structures]] * [[CMB cold spot]] * [[Cosmic string]] * [[Galaxy filament]] * [[Giant Arc]] * [[Big Ring]] * [[Observable universe#Large-scale structure|Large-scale structure of the universe]] * [[Redshift survey]] * [[Sloan Great Wall]] ==References== {{reflist|2}} ==External links== * [http://pics.livejournal.com/vorona_1/pic/0002apqr/ Map of CfA2 Great Wall] * [http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~huchra/zcat/ The CfA Redshift Survey] {{DEFAULTSORT:Cfa2 Great Wall}} [[Category:Astronomical objects discovered in 1989]] [[Category:Great Wall filament| ]] [[Category:Galaxy filaments]] [[Category:Large-scale structure of the cosmos]]
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