Boötes Void

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Region of space

title: "Boötes Void" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public description: "Region of space" topic_path: "uncategorized" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boötes_Void" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Region of space ::

right|thumb|259x259px|A map of the Boötes Void

The Boötes Void ( ) (colloquially referred to as the Great Nothing) is a roughly spherical region of space in the vicinity of the constellation Boötes. It contains just 60 galaxies, which is significantly fewer than the approximately 2,000 galaxies expected for an area of comparable size. With a radius of 62 megaparsecs (nearly 200 million light-years), it is one of the largest known voids in the visible universe, and is often referred to as a "supervoid".

It was discovered in 1981 by astronomer Robert Kirshner as part of a survey of galactic redshift. Its center is located 700 million light-years from Earth, at right ascension and declination . right|thumb|260x260px|A map of galaxy voids

The Hercules Superclusters are part of the near edge of the void.

Formation

The existence of the Boötes Void does not appear to conflict with the Lambda-cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model of cosmological evolution. It is hypothesized that the Boötes Void formed through the coalescence of smaller voids. This process may explain the presence of a limited number of galaxies within a roughly cylindrical region extending through the center of the void.

References

Sources

  • {{Cite journal | last1 = Kirshner | first1 = R.P. | author1-link =Robert Kirshner | last3 = Schechter | first3 = P.L. | author3-link =Paul L. Schechter | last2 = Oemler | first2 = A.J. | last4 = Shectman | first4 = S.A. | year = 1981 | title = A million cubic megaparsec void in Bootes | journal = The Astrophysical Journal | volume = 248 | pages = L57–60 | bibcode=1981ApJ...248L..57K | doi = 10.1086/183623}}
  • {{cite journal | last1 = Kirshner | first1 = R.P. | last2 = Oemler | first2 = A.J. | last3 = Schechter | first3 = P.L. | last4 = Shectman | first4 = S.A. | year = 1987 | title = A survey of the Bootes void | journal = The Astrophysical Journal | volume = 314 | pages = 493 | bibcode=1987ApJ...314..493K | doi = 10.1086/165080 | s2cid = 118385803

category:voids (astronomy) category:Boötes

References

  1. (2000). "Big, bigger ... biggest?".
  2. Pearson, Ezzy. (6 February 2022). "The Boötes void: Why the universe has a mysterious hole 330 million light-years". [[British Broadcasting Corporation]].
  3. (1 March 1987). "A survey of the Bootes void". Astrophysical Journal, Part 1.
  4. {{nobr. (2006). "Cosmic voids: Much ado about nothing". University of Groningen.
  5. McCracken, Jason. (13 July 2013). "Next Stop: Voids". [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration]].
  6. (August 1995). "Filling the void – understanding the formation of the Bootes void in intergalactic space".

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