Encyclopædia Galactica Rami T. F. Rekola Tuorlan Astronomical Society Tuorla Observatory University of Turku

Nearby Groups of Galaxies

This is an attempt to visualize the appearance of the nearby groups of galaxies. The groups are shown in supergalactic cartesian coordinate system. The horizontal axis is SGX and vertical axis SGY, which means the image shows the supergalactic plane. Units are in millions of light years.

The third dimension is depicted by the colour of the groups. The lighter in colour the group is the further away it is. Therefore the darkest circles are the ones closest to the viewer. True sizes of galaxies are so small that most galaxies would be too small to show at all in this image.

The size of the groups depicts how many galaxies there are in the group. The larger the circle is the more galaxies it contains. Sizes do not grow linearly with the number of galaxies. All groups with more than 10 galaxies are named on the image.

The image shows also two rings centred on the origin of the supergalactic coordinate system (i.e. the solar system). The rings indicate various distances from the origin.

2D image of nearby groups of galaxies