Voids & SupervoidsCosmic voids, and supervoids, are large volumes of space that are devoid of matter. This includes normal matter, in the form of galaxies, and dark matter. Initially, astronomers were not sure if the voids contained dark matter, even though there were no galaxies, but recent observations show that the halos of dark matter are not present. The filamentary structure of galactic superclusters surrounds the voids. While space is mostly empty, voids are large volumes, tens of megaparsecs across. The largest confirmed supervoids are about 100 Mpc (325 million light-years) or more across . The larger known voids include the Boötes Supervoid, and the Northern and Southern Local Supervoids. To explain the cold spot in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), some astronomers propose a huge supervoid, tentatively dubbed the Eridanus or Great supervoid. The Capricornus void is another disputed void, but would be around 230 Mpc across. This link has some of the latest information on cosmic voids.
Posted on: Sat, 31 Aug 2013 07:45:18 +0000
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