Council of Giants

Council of Giants

The Local Sheet in astronomy is a nearby extragalactic region of space where the Milky Way, the members of the Local Group and other galaxies share a similar peculiar velocity. This region lies within a radius of about 7 Mpc (23 Mly), 0.46 Mpc (1.5 Mly) thick, and galaxies beyond that distance show markedly different velocities. The Local Group has only a relatively small peculiar velocity of 66 km⋅s−1 with respect to the Local Sheet. Typical velocity dispersion of galaxies is only 40 km⋅s−1 in the radial direction. Nearly all nearby bright galaxies belong to the Local Sheet. The Local Sheet is part of the Local Volume and is in the Virgo Supercluster (Local Supercluster). The Local Sheet forms a wall of galaxies delineating one boundary of the Local Void.A significant component of the mean velocity of the galaxies in the Local Sheet appears as the result of the gravitational attraction of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, resulting in a peculiar motion ~185 km⋅s−1 toward the cluster. A second component is directed away from the center of the Local Void; an expanding region of space spanning an estimated 45 Mpc (150 Mly) that is only sparsely populated with galaxies. This component has a velocity of 259 km⋅s−1. The Local Sheet is inclined 8° from the Local Supercluster (Virgo Supercluster). The so-called Council of Giants is a ring of twelve large galaxies surrounding the Local Group in the Local Sheet, with a radius of 3.75 Mpc (12.2 Mly). Ten of these are spirals, while the remaining two are ellipticals. The two ellipticals (Maffei 1 and Centaurus A) lie on opposite sides of the Local Group.* The mass is given as the logarithm (base unspecified) of the mass in solar masses.

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