View source for Astronomy:Saraswati Supercluster

{{Short description|Supercluster of galaxies in the Pisces constellation}}
{{Infobox galaxy cluster
| name = Saraswati Supercluster
| image = 
| caption = 
| credit = 
| epoch = J2000.0
| constellation = Pisces
| ra = {{RA|23|37|40}}
| dec = {{DEC|00|16|17}}
| er = 
| member_no = 43
| major_axis_mpc = {{convert|200|Mpc|Mly|0|abbr=on|lk=on}}
| minor_axis_mpc = 
| redshift = 0.28
| distance = {{convert|1.2|Gpc|Gly|0|abbr=on|lk=on}}
| mass = 2.0×10<sup>16</sup>
| luminosity = 
| flux = 
| other_names = 
}}

The '''Saraswati Supercluster''' is a massive galaxy supercluster about 1.2 gigaparsecs (4 billion [[Light year|light year]]s) away within the [[Astronomy:Stripe 82|Stripe 82]] region of [[Astronomy:Sloan Digital Sky Survey|SDSS]], in the direction of the [[Astronomy:Constellation|constellation]] [[Astronomy:Pisces (constellation)|Pisces]].<ref name="Bagchi2017">{{cite journal |last1=Bagchi |first1=Joydeep |last2=Sankhyayan |first2=Shishir |last3=Sarkar |first3=Prakash |last4=Raychaudhury |first4=Somak |last5=Jacob |first5=Joe |last6=Dabhade |first6=Pratik |date= |year=2017 |title=Saraswati: An Extremely Massive ~ 200 Megaparsec Scale Supercluster |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |volume=844 |issue=1 |pages=25 |arxiv=1707.03082 |bibcode=2017ApJ...844...25B |doi=10.3847/1538-4357/aa7949 |s2cid=119360128 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Desikan |first=Shubashree |date=14 July 2017 |title=Indian astronomers discover supercluster of galaxies, name it ‘Saraswati’ |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/indian-astronomers-discover-supercluster-of-galaxies-name-it-saraswati/article19276497.ece |access-date=16 December 2023 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref> It is one of the [[Astronomy:List of largest cosmic structures|largest structures]] found in the [[Astronomy:Observable universe|universe]], with a major axis in diameter of about 200 Mpc (652 million light years). It consists of at least 43 [[Astronomy:Galaxy cluster|galaxy cluster]]s, and has the mass of {{Solar mass|link=y|2 × 10<sup>16</sup>}}, forming a [[Astronomy:Galaxy filament|galaxy filament]].'''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Karouzos |first1=Marios |date=September 2017 |title=Saraswati the wide-reaching |journal=Nature Astronomy |volume=1 |issue=9 |pages=564 |bibcode=2017NatAs...1..564K |doi=10.1038/s41550-017-0227-9 |s2cid=126174348}}</ref>'''

==Discovery==

The Saraswati supercluster was discovered by a team of astrophysicists from the [[Organization:Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics|Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics]] and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research led by Joydeep Bagchi and colleagues in Pune, {{wipe|India}} in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |last=(IUCAA) |first=Inter University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics |date=14 July 2017 |title=Researchers describe one of the most massive large-scale structures in the universe |url=https://phys.org/news/2017-07-massive-large-scale-universe.html |access-date=16 December 2023 |website=phys.org |language=en}}</ref> Analyzing the data of Stripe 82 of the comprehensive [[Astronomy:Sloan Digital Sky Survey|Sloan Digital Sky Survey]], particularly the sets of LOWZ data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, part of the DR12 catalogue of the SDSS, the team discovered an overdensity of the sampled 625 galaxies from LOWZ and 3,016 from the LEGACY-BOSS-SOUTHERN, a survey of the southern sky that is also a part of SDSS DR12.<ref name="IUCAA">{{cite web |title="Saraswati"- one of the most massive large-scale structures in the Universe discovered |url=http://www.iucaa.in/Saraswati-General.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729142754/http://www.iucaa.in/Saraswati-General.html |archive-date=29 July 2017 |access-date=14 July 2017 |website=IUCAA}}</ref>'''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bagchi |first=Joydeep |date=28 May 2019 |title=Saraswati Supercluster |url=https://web.iucaa.in/~joydeep/saraswati.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211233006/https://web.iucaa.in/~joydeep/saraswati.html |archive-date=11 December 2023 |access-date=16 December 2023 |website=IUCAA}}</ref>'''

==Cosmology==

The Saraswati Supercluster is one of the [[Astronomy:List of largest cosmic structures|largest and most massive superclusters known]], comparable to the massive Shapley Concentration in the nearby universe. The supercluster consists of 43 massive galaxy clusters, which include Abell 2361 and ZWCl 2341.1+0000. It is surrounded by a network of galaxy filaments, clusters, and [[Astronomy:Void|voids]].

The Saraswati supercluster and its environs reveal that some extreme large-scale, prominent matter density enhancements had formed in the past when [[Astronomy:Dark energy|dark energy]] had just started to dominate structure formation. This galactic concentration sheds light on the role of dark energy and cosmological initial conditions in supercluster formation.<ref name=NewScientist>{{cite web | title = Galaxy supercluster is one of the biggest things in the universe | date = 14 July 2017 | url = https://www.newscientist.com/article/2140847-galaxy-supercluster-is-one-of-the-biggest-things-in-the-universe/ | access-date = 12 January 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171008104633/https://www.newscientist.com/article/2140847-galaxy-supercluster-is-one-of-the-biggest-things-in-the-universe/ | archive-date = 8 October 2017 | website = NewScientist | last = Crane | first = Leah}}</ref><ref name=HuffPo>{{cite web | title = 'Saraswati': A Supercluster Of Galaxies Discovered By Indian Scientists | date = 14 July 2017 | url = http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/07/13/saraswati-a-supercluster-of-galaxies-discovered-by-indian-sci_a_23029293/ | access-date = 12 January 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170714091956/http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/07/13/saraswati-a-supercluster-of-galaxies-discovered-by-indian-sci_a_23029293/ | archive-date = 14 July 2017 | website = HuffingtonPost| last = | first = }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{2017 in space}}

[[Category:Galaxy superclusters]]



{{Sourceattribution|Saraswati Supercluster}}