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
Largest voids
Named voids NameCoordinates DistanceDiameter Data Notes Local Void cz=2500 km/s 60 Mpc Northern Local Supervoid 61 Mpc 104 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. 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 Supervoid 96 Mpc 112 Mpc Giant Void z=0.116 300–400 Mpc "Giant Void in NGH" or "AR-Lp 36"; NGH stands for "Northern Galactic Hemisphere"; discovered in 1988."The Northern Cone of Metagalaxy" (Kopylov et al. 1988) It is the largest void in the NGH where z<0.14. KBC Void 600 Mpc Void containing the Milky Way and Local Group SIMBAD, "list of objects in '*void' wildcard search" (accessed 15 September 2009)SIMBAD, "list of objects of type 'vid'" (accessed 15 September 2009)
Voids designated by their constellation
Name Coordinates Distance Diameter Data Notes Boötes Void (Great Void) 150 Mpc 100 Mpc The 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. Canis Major Void Columba Void Coma Void Discovered in 1975, along with the Coma Supercluster, it lies in front of the Coma Cluster. It was the first void to be discovered and is approximately 1/3 as far away as the much larger Boötes Void. Corona Borealis Void Eridanus Void This void is separated from the Sculptor void by a sheet of galaxies. Eridanus Supervoid (Great Void) z=1 150 Mpc The claimed Eridanus Supervoid or "Great Void", reported on 24 August 2007 by the NRAO from Very Large Array Sky Survey data. 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. 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 Void The 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 Void cz=7000 km/s Discovered in 1979 Hydra Void The Hydra Void lies beyond the Hydra–Centaurus Supercluster Leo Void cz=4000 km/s Microscopium Void A 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 Void near < 5000 km/s (the outer limit) 25% of average universe density is the void density of matter.The far end of this void is defined by the Ophiuchus Supercluster. Pegasus Void cz=5500 km/s 40 Mpc 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 Void cz=8000 km/s Discovered in 1980, it is also called the Perseus Void Sagittarius Void Sculptor Void 34.8 Mpc/h Corresponds to SRSS1 Void 3 and SRSS2 Void 5 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. The Sculptor Void lies next to the Southern Wall or Southern Great Wall. Taurus Void 30 Mpc The 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.NASA, "Cosmic Distance Scale"
Other voids
Designation Location Coordinates Distance Diameter Dimensions Notes Bahcall & Soneira 1982 voidz = 0.03 – 0.08 150 Mpc deep 300 Mpc wide 60 Mpc tall This suspected void ranged 100 degrees across the sky, and has shown up on other surveys as several separate voids.
Voids by search or survey
Tully list In 1985, Tully determined a local dominant supercluster plane, and found the Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex.
#Coordinates Distance DiameterNotes( Mpc) 1 90 140 2 100 136 3 150 150 4 170 173 5 180 158 Boötes Void 6 190 171 7 190 174 8 250 170 9 280 229 10 310 243 11 310 270
B&B Abell-derived list In a 1985 study of Abell clusters, 29 voids were determined, in the sphere z<0.1 around Earth.
#Coordinates Distance DiameterNotes( Mpc) 1 293 100 2 276 100 3 284 100 4 275 150 5 300 100 6 220 100 7 180 120 8 137 140 9 262 200 10 285 110 11 219 110 12 293 120 13 206 110 14 276 100 15 272 150 16 237 100 17 105 110 18 154 200 Boötes Void 19 297 110 20 265 210 21 283 160 22 286 140 23 295 110 24 291 130 25 110 100 26 237 100 27 155 130 28 284 160 29 203 120
SSRS1 list A redshift survey of galaxies in the southern sky in 1988, out to a distance of 120 Mpc/h, revealed some voids.
# Coordinates Distance (V) Dimensions W × H × D ( Mpc) Constellation Notes 1 3000 km/s 30 × 30 × 40 Phoenix/Eridanus Located just behind the galaxy concentration in Eridanus-Fornax-Dorado 2 5000 km/s 30 × 30 × 30 Capricornus/Microscopium 3 6000 km/s 70 × 30 × 50 Sculptor/Grus 4 9000 km/s 50 × 100 × 50 Horologium/Eridanus
SSRS2 list In 1994, a redshift survey in the southern sky identified 18 voids, 11 of which are major voids.
# Coordinates Distance (r) Diameter ( Mpc) Constellation Notes 1 85.7 54.3 Cetus major void 2 99.7 56.2 Fornax major void SRSS1 Void 4 3 107.2 60.8 Aquarius major void 4 66.7 35.6 Capricornus major void 5 53.0 34.8 Aquarius/Sculptor major void SRSS1 Void 3 (Sculptor Void) 6 56.5 32.0 Eridanus major void 7 77.2 25.5 Eridanus major void 8 83.9 27.8 Aquarius major void 9 114.6 39.0 Eridanus major void 10 104.7 34.8 Cetus major void 11 112.8 42.9 Sculptor major void 12 74.8 25.0 Piscis Austrinus/Sculptor 13 31.0 22.1 Cetus SRSS1 Void 1 14 87.2 21.3 Piscis Austrinus/Microscopium 15 116.1 27.3 Microscopium 16 36.5 20.3 Capricornus 17 32.1 19.0 Eridanus 18 85.9 21.1 Eridanus
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).
# Coordinates (B1950.0) Distance (Mpc/h) Diameter (Mpc/h) 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. Notes1 19.0° 134 882 28.2° 207 963 34.8° 216 724 36.6° 241 865 37.8° 129 926 46.0° 236 727 62.0° 248 1008 71.2° 201 769 121.7° 96 112 Southern Local Supervoid10 130.0° 246 14411 140.4° 160 9212 146.9° 227 10613 153.1° 246 9414 159.9° 167 6815 161.6° 241 9816 167.4° 222 7417 186.9° 216 9418 196.8° 119 10219 204.8° 119 10820 214.6° 216 78 Boötes Void (Great Void)21 216.7° 143 11622 219.8° 246 9623 220.2° 219 7224 256.1° 61 104 Northern Local Supervoid25 353.0° 198 7426 356.6° 246 8027 358.9° 241 70
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.
# Coordinates (B1950.0) Distance (km/s) Dimensions Notes V0 1000 96°×36°×2000 km/s V1 3750 15°×36°×3500 km/s V1 and V2 are connected, and block the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster from traversing the Zone of Avoidance. V2 8000 25°×14°×2000 km/s V1 and V2 are connected, and block the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster from traversing the Zone of Avoidance. V3 7000 30°×20°×2000 km/s This 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"
# Supergalactic Coordinates (r,X,Y,Z) Diameter ( Mpc) Data Notes 1 (55.2,−10.4,−53.8,6.1) 51.0 significant void 2 (49.6,−25.3,31.4,−28.9) 43.8 significant void 3 (46.0,−24.8,26.7,28.1) 44.5 significant void 4 (46.5,8.7,24.7,38.4) 45.0 significant void (Local Void) 5 (32.0,−13.0,−23.9,−16.9) 36.0 significant void 6 (51.5,17.0,−32.2,36.4) 41.4 significant void 7 (57.1,31.2,44.9,16.5) 43.5 significant void 8 (60.4,−25.8,−22.7,−49.7) 39.5 significant void 9 (49.8,35.9,−25.6,−23.0) 36.0 significant void 10 (63.3,−48.0,−40.9,6.0) 33.6 significant void (Sculptor Void) 11 (48.6,11.8,46.6,−6.9) 32.0 significant void 12 (49.9,−15.6,−35.7,31.3) 31.5 significant 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) 30.4 Perseus–Pisces Void
See also Large scale structure of the universe Galaxy filament Supercluster Galaxy cluster Lists of astronomical objects
Notes
References