Cosmology

IS OUR GALAXY BEING PULLED BY A MYSTERIOUS FORCE?

Let’s talk about it!

So, The Great Attractor is a giant gravitational anomaly in intergalactic space, located about 150 to 250 million light-years away from Earth. It acts as the main gravitational center for the Laniakea Supercluster, pulling thousands of galaxies toward it, including our very own Milky Way.

For billions of years, The Great Attractor has been pulling a massive number of surrounding galaxies. The Milky Way and our Local Group of galaxies are being dragged by its immense gravitational force toward the Hydra and Centaurus constellations.

How Do Scientists Know?

The existence of this Great Attractor was first noticed in the 1970s. At that time, astronomers created a detailed map of the Cosmic Microwave Background (the leftover light and radiation from the early universe).

They noticed that the light was slightly warmer on one side of the Milky Way compared to the other (and by "slightly," we mean less than one-hundredth of a degree Fahrenheit!). This temperature difference implies that our galaxy is speeding through space at a mind-blowing 370 miles per second (600 km per second)!

Why Can't We See It?

Despite its incredibly strong gravity, we cannot see the physical shape of The Great Attractor with our naked eyes or regular optical telescopes. This object is hidden right behind the plane of our own Milky Way galaxy. This area is packed with thick cosmic dust and stars, known as the Zone of Avoidance, which completely blocks out visible light from beyond it.

Furthermore, because our universe is constantly expanding at an accelerating rate, the Milky Way will most likely never actually reach the center of this pull.

But the good news is, scientists are still trying hard to study The Great Attractor. Its exact location is starting to be mapped out using infrared and X-ray instruments, even though we still don't know exactly what the true form of this galaxy-pulling giant looks like. The mysteries of the universe truly never end!

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