Is the Great Attractor a Giant Black Hole?
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Question by @Zach_Zach_Zach — thank you!
The Great Attractor is not one black hole. It is a region about 150 to 250 million light years away, packed with several rich galaxy clusters, with the massive Norma cluster near its center. Their combined gravity helps pull the Milky Way and its neighbors along at roughly 600 kilometers per second. It is hard to study because it sits behind the dust and stars of our own Milky Way, in the so-called Zone of Avoidance.
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Transcript
- Sef What is the Great Attractor? Is it one giant black hole?
- Sef Easy! A giant black hole, slurping up galaxies!
- Tiggy Nope. It's a crowd of galaxy clusters.
- Tiggy Their gravity pulls us at about 600 kilometers a second!
- Tiggy And they hide behind our own galaxy's dust.
- Sef A secret hiding spot? Just like my ball under the couch!
- Sef Thanks for asking, Zach Zach Zach!
Sources
- BBC Sky at Night: What is the Great Attractor? skyatnightmagazine.com
- University of Hawaii: Void Repels Milky Way manoa.hawaii.edu
- arXiv: The Norma Cluster in the Great Attractor ar5iv.labs.arxiv.org
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