supercluster

[soo-per-kluhs-ter]

noun

Astronomy.

1. a cluster of open clusters.

supercluster

1. A large group of neighboring clusters of galaxies, along with isolated galaxies scattered between them, the entire collection ranging in size from roughly 10 million to 1 billion light-years in diameter. The distribution of clusters is often close to that of a flattened sphere or disk. The Milky Way belongs to a galactic cluster known as the Local Group, which in turn is a member, along with about a hundred other such clusters, of the Virgo or Local Supercluster. There is some question as to whether gravity holds superclusters together and whether any larger structures exist within which superclusters are organized.

Word History and Origins

Origin of supercluster¹

First recorded in 1925–30; super- + cluster

Example Sentences

In support of the chancellor's figure, the Treasury has cited research by an industry group called the Oxford-Cambridge Supercluster.

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Since 2020, it’s true that her fame level has risen from “star” to “molten cosmic supercluster from which galaxies are born.”

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But the biggest single entity scientists have identified is a supercluster of galaxies called the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall, which is about 10 billion light-years wide.

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Our own Milky Way galaxy is part of a much larger formation, the local Supercluster structure, which contains several massive galaxy clusters and thousands of individual galaxies.

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Both types of galaxies are also found in the Local Supercluster, but while the Supergalactic Plane is teeming with bright ellipticals, bright disk galaxies are conspicuously absent.

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