Void (astronomy)

Nearby superclusters and voids

In astronomy, voids are the empty spaces between filaments. Filaments and voids are the largest-scale structures in the Universe. There are no or few galaxies in voids. Most voids have a diameter of 11 to 150 Mpc. Especially large voids are the empty spaces without many superclusters. These voids are sometimes called supervoids.

A 1994 official counting lists a total of 27 supervoids with a distance of up to 740 Mpc.

#	Name	Distance (Mpc)	Diameter (Mpc)
1		188	124
5		182	130
9	Southern Local Supervoid	135	158
18		168	144
19		168	152
20	Bootes Void	304	110
21		201	163
24	Northern Local Supervoid	86	146

Void (astronomy) Media

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  Matter distribution in a cubic section of the universe. The blue fiber structures represent the matter (primarily dark matter) and the empty regions in between represent the cosmic voids.

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  Voids in Local Supercluster

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  A 43×43×43-megaparsec cube shows the evolution of the large-scale structure over a logarithmic period starting from a redshift of 30 and ending at redshift 0. The model makes it clear to see how the matter-dense regions contract under the collective gravitational force while simultaneously aiding in the expansion of cosmic voids as the matter flees to the walls and filaments.

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  CMB screening of the universe.