GLOWING THREADS Simulations like the Millennium Simulation Project show glowing galaxies clumping along cosmic filaments. But the Milky Way lives in the dark no-man’s-land between the threads.

It seems the Milky Way is a loner in the Universe just like someone that lives way off the beaten trail.
In the picture it kinda looks like a map of cities with roads connecting them.
Well, the Milky Way is in the empty areas like someone living on an isolated farm in the country.

Here is the article.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/milky-ways-loner-status-upheld
http://www.sciencenews.org/article/milky-ways-loner-status-upheld




If you think its hard to find someone where you live, imagine being 2 Billion light years away from the nearest highway!

interesting stuff.



arthur dent shouldn't complain about losing his house.

I could imagine that, only I'm not a galaxy.

Bump for discussion...

The picture looks like a mammogram.

The milky way may benefit from the isolation by not being disturbed, allowing special coincidents like the Earth's climate to exist longer before being torn apart or burnt out.

Does it, I've never looked at a mammogram?

At NASA there is a picture... lemme find it...



which kinda shows what they think lies at the solar system's outer edge.
(here's a much bigger picture found at wiki http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Voyager_1_entering_heliosheath_region.jpg)

In these pictures the Earth is near the center of the circle.
Earth is protected from galactic and super-galactic disturbances by the Sun's field of influence.
While Earth's climate can be affected by the near space and solar dynamics, it would have to be a very strong disturbance to affect our climate from a galactic source. Like a GRB (Gamma Ray Burst).
The Milky Way's position in a void has little effect of Earth's climate.
Even if the Milky Way were located on a dense thread of the Virgo supercluster the galaxy also has its own bow shock and heliopause.

When Andromeda collides with the Milky Way it won't hit like a freight train, it will pass thru one another causing eddies and vortexes but the stars and their systems will remain pretty much intact.
Space is really big and really sparse.

maybe this fact is the best argument for a creator.

maybe our galaxy is designed to reveal it is sustained by a higher thought process.

maybe science is unlocking the keys to a designer.

after all, according the Pew Research Poll, 51% of today's current scientists believe in God or a form of higher intelligence.

maybe this is one of the reasons why.

I want to show you three old views of the Universe.
These images are outdated but still relevant basically.
Still good science.

The First image is The Virgo Supercluster
The local group of galaxies is just one of many centered around the massive Virgo Cluster.
Earth (and the Sun) are in the Virgo Supercluster so it is our view center.
Collectively, all of these groups and clusters form a unit known as the Virgo Supercluster shown here.



Our galaxy is just one of thousands that lie within 100 million light years. The above map shows how galaxies tend to cluster into groups, the largest nearby cluster is the Virgo cluster a concentration of several hundred galaxies which dominates the galaxy groups around it. Collectively, all of these groups of galaxies are known as the Virgo Supercluster. The second richest cluster in this volume of space is the Fornax Cluster, but it is not nearly as rich as the Virgo cluster. Only bright galaxies are depicted on the map, our galaxy is the dot in the very centre.

The second image is our Supercluster Neighbors



Galaxies and clusters of galaxies are not uniformly distributed in the Universe, instead they collect into vast clusters and sheets and walls of galaxies interspersed with large voids in which very few galaxies seem to exist. The map above shows many of these superclusters including the Virgo supercluster - the minor supercluster of which our galaxy is just a minor member. The entire map is approximately 7 percent of the diameter of the entire visible Universe.

Finally a representation of the Universe.
Notice how it is a ball?
Its a ball because that is the limit of our ability to look not the limit of the Universe. Its a view from our relative perspective only.

The Universe within 14 billion Light Years
The Visible Universe



This map attempts to show the entire visible Universe. The galaxies in the universe tend to collect into vast sheets and superclusters of galaxies surrounding large voids giving the universe a cellular appearance. Because light in the universe only travels at a fixed speed, we see objects at the edge of the universe when it was very young up to 14 billion years ago.

Here is the source page: http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/

I think the most current scope of the Universe is in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

Here is the Link: http://www.sdss.org/

One thing is sure.
The Universe is vast and complex, far exceeding mankind's wildest imaginations. What we don't know far, far exceeds what we do.
So, anything is possible given the scope. Even God.

Here is a cool video that takes you for a ride.
JOURNEY TO THE EDGE OF THE (observable) UNIVERSE w/ Alec Baldwin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVQpwxgMQCg

But, the Universe is not only immensely big, it is also immensely small.
Powers of Ten (1977)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzEp1caAJdQ
Science has already made this video obsolete. Its still accurate but limited in scope for what we know now.