The Laniakea supercluster of galaxies
R. Brent Tully, Helene Courtois, Yehuda Hoffman, Daniel Pomar\`ede

TL;DR
This paper maps the Laniakea supercluster by analyzing galaxy peculiar velocities, revealing its boundaries and structure, and defining it as the volume enclosed by a watershed-like surface of divergent velocity flows.
Contribution
It introduces a novel method of defining supercluster boundaries using peculiar velocity flows, providing a new perspective on large-scale cosmic structure.
Findings
Identified the extent of the Laniakea supercluster
Mapped the velocity divergence surface surrounding our galaxy
Revealed the structure and boundaries of the supercluster
Abstract
Galaxies congregate in clusters and along filaments, and are missing from large regions referred to as voids. These structures are seen in maps derived from spectroscopic surveys that reveal networks of structure that are interconnected with no clear boundaries. Extended regions with a high concentration of galaxies are called 'superclusters', although this term is not precise. There is, however, another way to analyse the structure. If the distance to each galaxy from Earth is directly measured, then the peculiar velocity can be derived from the subtraction of the mean cosmic expansion, the product of distance times the Hubble constant, from observed velocity. The peculiar velocity is the line-of-sight departure from the cosmic expansion and arises from gravitational perturbations; a map of peculiar velocities can be translated into a map of the distribution of matter. Here we report a…
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