UCT-led team of scientists discovers new concentration of galaxies
A new concentration of galaxies has been discovered by an international team of astronomers, the University of Cape Town announced on Wednesday. The previously unknown galaxies uncovered in the Vela constellation were until now hidden from sight by the Milky Way. This new concentration of galaxies has been dubbed the Vela Supercluster and is about 800-million light-years from earth. A supercluster of galaxies is the largest and most massive known structure in the universe. It can stretch 200-million light-years across the sky. The team of astronomers that discovered the supercluster are from SA, the Netherlands, Germany, and Australia, and were led by Prof Renée Kraan-Korteweg from the University of Cape Town. Kraan-Korteweg said most the famous supercluster ever discovered was the Shapley Supercluster in the 1930s. This is about 650-million light-years away from earth. Kraan-Korteweg said the Vela is probably of equal mass to Shapley, which posed questions as to how such large stru...
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