Local group of galaxies. Clusters and superclusters of galaxies

The diameter of the Milky Way is 100,000 light years, so it is not surprising that astronomers once believed that our Galaxy contained the entire Universe. At the beginning of the last century, during observations of variable stars unexpectedly it turned out: two small clouds, lying separately from the Milky Way, were located at a distance of almost 200,000 light years. It soon became clear that these were huge independent groups of stars. It turned out that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies.

In addition, it also became clear that galaxies are linked by mutual gravitational attraction. Some such clusters consist of hundreds of large galaxies, but our Local Group is relatively modest in this sense. It contains only three large spiral galaxies () and about two dozen smaller dwarf galaxies, which are divided into two separate classes - irregular and elliptical.

SATELLITE GALAXIES

The Milky Way's largest satellites, the Magellanic Clouds, are visible in the southern sky. More spectacular is the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), which is physically larger and closer to us than the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). Both are irregular galaxies with diameters of 20,000 and 10,000 light years, respectively. They form huge gas and dust clouds in star-forming regions.

The Tarantula Nebula in the LMC is so bright that if it lay at the same distance as the Great Orion Nebula, it would cover a huge area of ​​the sky. The LMC was also the site of a recent bright supernova, a spectacular explosion that signaled the death of an extremely massive star.

Irregular galaxies are often the sites of intense star formation. Astronomers believe these may be relatively young bodies, primitive "building blocks" from which spiral galaxies will one day form. The Magellanic Clouds appear to orbit the Milky Way for more than a billion years. Some activity during the birth of stars here may be provoked by the rise of tidal waves in them from our galaxy.

Supernova 1987A. In 1987, the brightest supernova of recent times erupted in the LMC. Its flash was so bright that, despite the colossal distance, it appeared for a short time in the Earth's sky, reaching a brilliance of the 3rd magnitude (it could be seen with the naked eye). The explosion was soon associated with the destruction of the blue supergiant Sandyulik -69°202. Until 1987, most astronomers believed that stars of this type were unlikely to explode in the form of supernovae, but now they suspect that this blue supergiant began its life as a binary system, and then its objects gradually spiraled closer together and at some stage merged before the explosion.

MAGELLAN STREAM

One sign that the Clouds are experiencing crippling gravitational pull is a tail of gas and free stars called the Magellanic Stream. However, measurements of the speed of movement of clouds in space give reason to believe that they appeared in their orbit recently. But if they are still in this orbit, then with each successive approach to the Milky Way it will tear off pieces from them and deform them until, in the end, it finally swallows them.

Hidden galaxies. Dense star clouds lying along the plane of the Milky Way block our view of intergalactic space. This is why some nearby galaxies remained hidden from our eyes until recently. One such example is the spiral galaxy Compass, which was only discovered in the 1970s. True, the most impressive thing was the discovery of the so-called. the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy (SagDEG) and the Canis Minor Dwarf Galaxy. Both of these galaxies are now being absorbed by the Milky Way. They were found only through deep analysis of the stars around the central region of our galaxy.

SKY SHREDDER

Very close by lies evidence that the Magellanic Clouds are not the first victims of the Milky Way. In 1994, astronomers discovered the remains of another small galaxy located directly beyond the center of our Galaxy. This SagDEG dwarf elliptical galaxy in Sagittarius was originally a ball of old red and yellow stars with some dust and gas. However, as a result of a collision with the Milky Way, it was torn into an elongated caravan of stars.

MONSTER IN THE HOOD

There are several other small irregular and elliptical galaxies in the space around the Milky Way, none of which, however, are remarkable to the average observer. The next most important galaxy is so large and bright that it is not difficult to see with the naked eye. The Andromeda Galaxy, equally known by its Messier catalog number M31, is a spiral galaxy with a diameter of about 250,000 light years, twice the diameter of the Milky Way.

From our vantage point in space, we see Andromeda just above the edge-on view, so to us it appears as a glowing, furry ellipse about six times the diameter of full moon, with a clear concentration of light in the center. Long exposure photographs reveal dark dust alleys that help track the whirlpool of the spiral arms.

STRANGE SISTER

M31 differs from our Galaxy in some intriguing ways. Andromeda is only 2/3 of the mass of our galaxy. This suggests that there is much more gas, dust and other invisible things in the Milky Way. dark matter. Analysis of the core of this galaxy shows that it contains an unusually dense cluster of stars. It is believed to surround a supermassive black hole with a mass approximately equal to 30 million Suns.

M31 FAMILY

Like the Milky Way, the M31 galaxy has its own significant family of satellite galaxies. The most prominent of them are two elliptical galaxies M32 and M110. Although their size is small, their density of stars is much higher than in any other dwarf elliptical galaxy in our vicinity. Moreover, they appear to have experienced bursts of star formation quite recently. Some astronomers theorize that these galaxies represent the preserved remnants of the core of small spiral galaxies broken up by Andromeda.

THIRD OF ITS KIND

M31's other satellites are dwarf ellipticals and irregular galaxies, but nearby lies the third largest member of the Local Group, which may orbit Andromeda—the MTZ, or Triangulum Galaxy.
This is another spiral galaxy with a diameter of half the Milky Way. MZZ lies flat facing the Earth, but she is not as beautiful as Andromeda. Despite its relative dimness, the ISS contains one of the largest star-forming nebulae currently known. This huge formation of gas, dust and stars is so bright that it was cataloged as NGC 604.

Includes the Galaxy and galaxies close to it that form a single system. The local group of galaxies includes St. 20 famous galaxies, the distances to which do not exceed approximately 1 Mpc, these include the Magellanic Clouds and... ...

local group of galaxies- includes the Galaxy and galaxies close to it, which form a single system. The local group of galaxies includes over 20 known galaxies, the distances to which do not exceed approximately 1 Mpc, including the Magellanic Clouds and... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary

Local group of galaxies- a set of nearby galaxies, the distances to which do not exceed approximately 1 million pc (about 3 million light years). Consists of two large groups and there are only about 30 members of dwarf galaxies scattered among them. In one of the groups... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

LOCAL GALAXIES GROUP- includes the Galaxy and galaxies close to it, which form a single system. M. g. g. includes St. 20 known galaxies, the distances to which do not exceed approximately 1 Mpc, include the Magellanic Clouds and the Andromeda Nebula...

Local group of galaxies- a set of nearby galaxies together with our Galaxy... Astronomical Dictionary

Local group- Galaxies of the Local Group The Local Group of galaxies is a gravitationally bound group of galaxies, including the Milky Way galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy (M31) and the Triangulum galaxy ... Wikipedia

galaxy cluster Encyclopedic Dictionary

CLUSTER OF GALAXIES- a collection of relatively closely spaced galaxies connected into a single system by gravitational forces. More than 3,000 galaxy clusters are known, numbering from several tens to several thousand members. One of the galaxy clusters is... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

CLUSTER OF GALAXIES- a collection of relatively closely spaced galaxies connected into a single system by gravitational forces. More than 3000 S. years are known, numbering from several. tens to several thousand members. One of the galaxies is, apparently, the Local Group of galaxies... Natural science. Encyclopedic Dictionary

List of nearby galaxies- The following is a list of known galaxies within 3.6 megaparsecs (11.7 million light years) of Earth in order of distance from Earth (see note below). 3.6 Mpc is the distance to the center of the nearest two large groups of galaxies: Groups ... ... Wikipedia

Contents of the article

LOCAL GALAXIES GROUP is a collection of several dozen nearby galaxies surrounding our star system - the Milky Way galaxy. Members of the Local Group move relative to each other, but are connected by mutual gravity and therefore long time occupy a limited space of about 6 million light years and exist separately from other similar groups of galaxies. All members of the Local Group are considered to have common origin and have been coevolving for about 13 billion years.

Galaxies of the Local Group represent special interest for astronomy, since many of them, firstly, can be studied in detail, and secondly, significantly influence our Galaxy and are themselves influenced by it. The Local Group, like other neighboring groups of galaxies and more populated clusters of galaxies, is part of a grand association - the Local Supercluster of Galaxies. This is a flattened system with a diameter of about 100 million and a thickness of about 35 million light. years. Its center is a large cluster of galaxies in Virgo, 50 million light years away from us. years.

American astronomer Edwin Hubble was the first to notice that our Galaxy, together with several neighboring star systems, forms quite a separate group, which he called the Local Group of galaxies. In his book The world of nebulae(1936) Hubble wrote that it is “a typical small group of nebulae, isolated in the general field from the rest of the stellar systems.” This has been confirmed b modern research: the Local Group includes about 35 galaxies of various morphological type. It is dominated by two spiral systems - the Andromeda Nebula (= M31 = NGC 224) and the Milky Way, the distance between which is about 2.5 million light years. years. The Andromeda Galaxy is slightly larger and about one and a half times more massive than our Galaxy.

Among other members of the Local Group, two stand out due to their mass and luminosity - a small spiral in Triangulum (M 33) and the irregular galaxy Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). They are followed in order of decreasing luminosity by the irregular galaxies Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), IC 10, NGC 6822, IC 1613 and WLM, as well as two spheroidal satellites of the Andromeda Nebula - M 32 and NGC 205. The remaining galaxies are noticeably smaller. Half the mass of the Local Group is contained in a sphere with a radius of about 1 million light. years, and the boundary of the group is approximately 3 million light years away from its center. years. Near this boundary there are three small systems - Aquarius, Tucana and Sag DIG, whose belonging to the Local Group is still in question. Note that not only these, but also many other galaxies of the Local Group bear the names of the constellations in which they are observed, for example, Fornax, Draco, Sculptor, Leo I, Leo II, etc. Most of them have other designations according to various catalogs of galaxies, but usually astronomers call them that way - the Fornax galaxy, the Draco system, etc.

Within the Local Cluster, small galaxies are distributed not completely chaotically: many of them gravitate towards large galaxies– to the Milky Way and to the Andromeda Nebula. These two are often called "parent" galaxies, although the genetic relationship between the large and small galaxies is not yet entirely clear. It is possible that it is small star systems that serve as ancestors for larger ones. But in in this case a large star system is called a “parent galaxy”, based on the everyday association: it is surrounded by smaller satellite galaxies, like children.

For example, our Galaxy is accompanied by fairly large Magellanic Clouds and several small systems - Fornax, Draco, Sculptor, Sextans, Carina, etc. The retinue of the Andromeda Nebula includes very large Messier 32 and NGC 205, as well as small NGC 147, NGC 185, And I , And II, And III, etc. This is not a feature of the Local Group: in the world of galaxies, small satellites often accompany a large “leader”. Such groups are about 1 million in size. years are usually called hypergalaxies. Therefore, we can say that the main components of the Local Group are two hypergalaxies - the Milky Way and the Andromeda Nebula.

The third largest galaxy in the Local Group in terms of size and mass is spiral M 33 in the constellation Triangulum. Apparently, it has no satellites, although some small galaxies are located in the sky projection closer to M 33 than to M 31. However, the Andromeda Nebula (M 31) is much more massive than the Triangulum Spiral (M 33), so even distant satellites M 31 follows it, and not its less massive neighbor. The population of the Local Group is not very diverse: it contains spiral, irregular and dwarf galaxies, which is typical for such small and not very dense groups. The Local Group lacks the large elliptical galaxies that can be found in richer clusters. The only true elliptical galaxy is M 32, a close satellite of the Andromeda Nebula. The remaining spheroidal (type Sph) and dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies are not true elliptical systems, since they are not very dense, weakly concentrated towards the center, and contain interstellar gas and young stars.

The nearest neighbors of the Local Group are the same small clusters of galaxies. One of them, observed in the direction of the constellations Pump and Sextant, is 5.5 million light years away from the center of the Local Group. years. The group of small galaxies in Sculptor is 8 million light years away. years old, and the other famous group, which includes the large spiral M 81 and the intense star formation galaxy M 82 interacting with it, is 11 million light years away. years. Members of the Pump-Sextant group, due to their proximity to us, were at one time classified as members of the Local Group of galaxies. But having studied the movement of its main members - the small galaxies NGC 3109, Pump, Sextant A and Sextant B, experts concluded that this independent group, slowly moving away from the Local Group.

Subgroup of the Milky Way.

Being in the depths of our Galaxy, surrounded by clouds of interstellar gas and dust, we cannot yet accurately imagine appearance of its star system, and even discover all its neighbors, especially those hidden behind the Milky Way band. Some of the galaxy's moons have only recently been discovered using infrared telescopes because long-wave radiation from stars passes more easily through interstellar dust.

The study of our Galaxy is greatly helped by its comparison with the nearby and similar spiral in Andromeda. True, our Galaxy’s disk is not as symmetrical as that of the Andromeda Nebula: the spiral arms of the Milky Way are more “branched and shaggy,” and they do not emerge from the center of the galaxy, like Andromeda’s, but from the ends of a small bar crossing the core of the Galaxy. In addition, our star system has a less massive halo and, accordingly, fewer globular clusters. So far, 150 globular clusters have been discovered in the Galaxy; in total there are no more than 200 of them, and in the Andromeda Nebula there are at least 400 globular clusters. But in the disk of our Galaxy, a more intense process of star formation occurs: young stars are formed several times more often than in the Andromeda Nebula.

Some satellites of the Galaxy are located within its halo: the disk of the Galaxy has a radius of about 40 thousand light years. years, but the spherical halo extends much further - up to a distance of about 400 thousand light years. years. It is in this volume that the globular clusters- typical representatives of the halo population. And the most noticeable inhabitants of the halo are the massive Magellanic Clouds. Probably in the past they were further from the center of the Galaxy and formed a connected pair. But gradually the Magellanic Clouds approach the center of the Galaxy, lose contact with each other and matter from their outer regions: a “tail” of lost stars and gas stretches behind them along the orbit - the Magellanic Stream.

The Magellanic Clouds are very rich in gas and young stars: although their total mass is 10 times less than that of our Galaxy, they contain almost the same amount of interstellar matter. Very large areas star formations are observed in the LMC, and they are even easier to study there than in the dusty Milky Way. Many young star clusters with massive stars, as well as numerous traces of explosions supernovas. The only supernova observed in the 20th century. within the Local Group, it broke out in the LMC in 1987.

For a still unclear reason, an outbreak of star formation occurred in the LMC about 4 billion years ago. Her memory is preserved in the form large quantity star clusters of exactly this age. It is possible that the reason for this was the convergence of the Clouds with each other or with the Galaxy. By studying more distant double galaxies, astronomers have found that their mutual approaches often increase the rate of star formation in them.

The fate of the Magellanic Clouds seems quite clear: having made a few more revolutions around the Galaxy and approaching its center, they will be torn apart by tidal forces and “smeared” along the orbit. Their stars and star clusters will become part of the Galaxy, but for a long time they will move in a wide stream, reminiscent of their mutual genetic connection. Several such streams have already been discovered in the galactic halo. These are likely remnants of previously absorbed satellites similar to the Magellanic Clouds.

Subgroup of the Andromeda Nebula.

Unfortunately, the disk of the Andromeda Nebula is turned almost edge-on towards us: our line of vision makes an angle of only 15° with the plane of the disk, so studying the structure of the spiral arms of Andromeda is not much easier than the structure of the Milky Way. However, for astronomers of the Andromeda Nebula, our Galaxy is also “not a gift”: they see our disk at an angle of only 21°.

As the largest member of the Local Group, the Andromeda nebula is surrounded by a large retinue of satellites. Together with them and the M 33 spiral, it forms a subgroup of stellar islands, occupying the constellations Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Triangulum and Pisces. The famous astronomer Harlow Shapley called this area the "Andromeda Archipelago".

Just as the Magellanic Clouds are closely adjacent to our Galaxy, largest satellites Andromeda is located very close to its center. True, they themselves are not at all similar to the Magellanic Clouds, rich in gas and young stars. Andromeda's satellites are spheroidal galaxies containing almost no interstellar matter. Among them, the elliptical galaxy M 32 stands out, compact and very dense, with a rather massive core. It orbits dangerously close to the Andromeda Nebula and is subject to its strong gravitational influence, which has already “torn off” the outer parts of this satellite, and in a few billion years will lead to its final destruction.

Moving a little further from its spiral “host” is the elongated spheroid NGC 205. It is also tidally influenced by massive Andromeda: its outermost parts are noticeably curved. NGC 205 contains several globular clusters, some interstellar gas, and relatively young stars. Approximately the same, although less massive, are the two more distant satellites of Andromeda - NGC 147 and NGC 185. Apparently, they form dual system and together revolve around the spiral “host”.

In 2003, a new satellite was discovered near the Andromeda Nebula (And VIII), observed against the background of its disk, approximately in the same place as the M 32 galaxy. This satellite is difficult to notice in ordinary photographs, since it is already heavily destroyed by the tidal influence of the main galaxy. It is elongated by almost 10 kpc. in length with a width of only a few kiloparsecs. Its luminosity is about 200 million solar; several were noticed in it planetary nebulae and globular clusters, as well as about 400 thousand. solar masses neutral hydrogen. These kinds of discoveries prove that the composition of the Local Group of galaxies has not yet been fully described.

According to various authors who studied the dynamics of nearby galaxies, gross weight The Local Group of galaxies ranges from 1.2 to 2.3 x 10 12 solar masses. In any case, this is several times more than direct calculations of the mass contained in the observed stars and interstellar medium. Consequently, there is invisible matter in the Local Group, the so-called “hidden mass”, most likely concentrated in the extended halos of our Galaxy and the Andromeda Nebula.

The study of the galaxies closest to us - members of the Local Group - is very useful and instructive for elucidating the structure and life history of the most common, most widespread star systems in the Universe.

Vladimir Surdin

The Local Group lies approximately on the line connecting the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. The local group can be divided into several subgroups:

• Milky Way subgroup consists of the giant spiral Milky Way galaxy and its 14 known satellites (as of 2005), which are dwarf and mostly irregular galaxies;
• Andromeda subgroup quite similar to the Milky Way subgroup: at the center of the subgroup is the giant spiral galaxy Andromeda. Its 18 known (as of 2005) satellites are also mostly dwarf galaxies;
• Triangle subgroup - the Triangulum galaxy and its possible satellites;
• other dwarf galaxies that cannot be classified into any of the specified subgroups.

The diameter of the Local Group is on the order of one megaparsec. Along with a number of other small groups of galaxies, the Local Group is part of the Local Sheet - a flat cloud of galaxies with a radius of about 7 Mpc (23 million light years) and a thickness of 1.5 Mpc (5 million light years), which, in turn, is part of the Local Supercluster of Galaxies (Virgo Supercluster), main role in which the Virgo cluster plays.

Galaxies of the Local Group

Diagram

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Notes

Links

• Igor Drozdovsky.(Russian) . astronet.ru. Retrieved March 31, 2009. .
• (English) (inaccessible link - story) . www.atlasoftheuniverse.com (06/05/2007). Retrieved April 10, 2009. .
• (English) . www.atlasoftheuniverse.com. Retrieved April 10, 2009. .

Excerpt characterizing the Local Group

When Princess Marya began to cry, he realized that she was crying that Nikolushka would be left without a father. With great effort he tried to return to life and was transported to their point of view.
“Yes, they must find it pathetic! - he thought. “How simple it is!”
“The birds of the air neither sow nor reap, but your father feeds them,” he said to himself and wanted to say the same to the princess. “But no, they will understand it in their own way, they will not understand! What they cannot understand is that all these feelings that they value are all ours, all these thoughts that seem so important to us are that they are not needed. We can't understand each other." - And he fell silent.

Prince Andrei's little son was seven years old. He could barely read, he didn't know anything. He experienced a lot after this day, acquiring knowledge, observation, and experience; but if he had then possessed all these later acquired abilities, he could not have understood better, more deeply the full meaning of that scene that he saw between his father, Princess Marya and Natasha than he understood it now. He understood everything and, without crying, left the room, silently approached Natasha, who followed him out, and shyly looked at her with thoughtful, beautiful eyes; raised, ruddy upper lip he trembled, he leaned his head against her and began to cry.
From that day on, he avoided Desalles, avoided the countess who caressed him, and either sat alone or timidly approached Princess Marya and Natasha, whom he seemed to love even more than his aunt, and quietly and shyly caressed them.
Princess Marya, leaving Prince Andrei, fully understood everything that Natasha’s face told her. She no longer spoke to Natasha about the hope of saving his life. She alternated with her at his sofa and did not cry anymore, but prayed incessantly, turning her soul to that eternal, incomprehensible, whose presence was now so palpable over the dying man.

Prince Andrei not only knew that he would die, but he felt that he was dying, that he was already half dead. He experienced a consciousness of alienation from everything earthly and a joyful and strange lightness of being. He, without haste and without worry, awaited what lay ahead of him. That menacing, eternal, unknown and distant, the presence of which he never ceased to feel throughout his entire life, was now close to him and - due to the strange lightness of being that he experienced - almost understandable and felt.
Before, he was afraid of the end. He experienced this terrible, painful feeling of fear of death, of the end, twice, and now he no longer understood it.
The first time he experienced this feeling was when a grenade was spinning like a top in front of him and he looked at the stubble, at the bushes, at the sky and knew that death was in front of him. When he woke up after the wound and in his soul, instantly, as if freed from the oppression of life that held him back, this flower of love, eternal, free, independent of this life, blossomed, he was no longer afraid of death and did not think about it.
The more he, in those hours of suffering solitude and semi-delirium that he spent after his wound, thought about the new beginning that was open to him eternal love Moreover, without feeling it himself, he renounced earthly life. Everything, to love everyone, to always sacrifice oneself for love, meant not loving anyone, meant not living this earthly life. And the more he was imbued with this principle of love, the more he renounced life and the more completely he destroyed that terrible barrier that, without love, stands between life and death. When, at first, he remembered that he had to die, he said to himself: well, so much the better.
But after that night in Mytishchi, when the one he desired appeared in front of him in a semi-delirium, and when he, pressing her hand to his lips, cried quiet, joyful tears, love for one woman imperceptibly crept into his heart and again tied him to life. Both joyful and anxious thoughts began to come to him. Remembering that moment at the dressing station when he saw Kuragin, he now could not return to that feeling: he was tormented by the question of whether he was alive? And he didn't dare ask this.

His illness took its own physical course, but what Natasha called: this happened to him happened to him two days before the arrival of Princess Marya. This was the last moral struggle between life and death, in which death won. It was the unexpected consciousness that he still valued the life that seemed to him in love for Natasha, and the last, subdued fit of horror in front of the unknown.
It was in the evening. He was, as usual after dinner, in a slight feverish state, and his thoughts were extremely clear. Sonya was sitting at the table. He dozed off. Suddenly a feeling of happiness overwhelmed him.
“Oh, she came in!” - he thought.
Indeed, sitting in Sonya’s place was Natasha, who had just entered with silent steps.
Since she began following him, he had always experienced this physical sensation of her closeness. She sat on an armchair, sideways to him, blocking the light of the candle from him, and knitted a stocking. (She learned to knit stockings since Prince Andrei told her that no one knows how to take care of the sick like old nannies who knit stockings, and that there is something soothing in knitting a stocking.) Thin fingers quickly fingered her from time to time the clashing spokes, and the pensive profile of her downcast face was clearly visible to him. She made a movement and the ball rolled off her lap. She shuddered, looked back at him and, shielding the candle with her hand, with a careful, flexible and precise movement she bent, raised the ball and sat down in her previous position.
He looked at her without moving, and saw that after her movement she needed to take a deep breath, but she did not dare to do this and carefully took a breath.
In the Trinity Lavra they talked about the past, and he told her that if he were alive, he would forever thank God for his wound, which brought him back to her; but since then they never spoke about the future.
“Could it or could it not have happened? - he thought now, looking at her and listening to the light steel sound of the knitting needles. - Was it really only then that fate brought me so strangely together with her that I might die?.. Was the truth of life revealed to me only so that I could live in a lie? I love her more than anything in the world. But what should I do if I love her? - he said, and he suddenly groaned involuntarily, according to the habit that he acquired during his suffering.
Hearing this sound, Natasha put down the stocking, leaned closer to him and suddenly, noticing him glowing eyes, walked up to him with a light step and bent down.
-Are you awake?
- No, I’ve been looking at you for a long time; I felt it when you came in. No one like you, but gives me that soft silence... that light. I just want to cry with joy.
Natasha moved closer to him. Her face shone with rapturous joy.
- Natasha, I love you too much. More than anything else.
- And me? “She turned away for a moment. - Why too much? - she said.
- Why too much?.. Well, what do you think, how do you feel in your soul, in your whole soul, will I be alive? What do you think?
- I'm sure, I'm sure! – Natasha almost screamed, taking both his hands with a passionate movement.
He paused.
- How good it would be! - And, taking her hand, he kissed it.
Natasha was happy and excited; and immediately she remembered that this was impossible, that he needed calm.
“But you didn’t sleep,” she said, suppressing her joy. – Try to sleep... please.
He released her hand, shaking it; she moved to the candle and sat down again in her previous position. She looked back at him twice, his eyes shining towards her. She gave herself a lesson on the stocking and told herself that she wouldn't look back until she finished it.
Indeed, soon after that he closed his eyes and fell asleep. He did not sleep for long and suddenly woke up in a cold sweat.
As he fell asleep, he kept thinking about the same thing he had been thinking about all the time - about life and death. And more about death. He felt closer to her.
"Love? What is love? - he thought. – Love interferes with death. Love is life. Everything, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists only because I love. Everything is connected by one thing. Love is God, and to die means for me, a particle of love, to return to the common and eternal source.” These thoughts seemed comforting to him. But these were just thoughts. Something was missing in them, something was one-sided, personal, mental - it was not obvious. And there was the same anxiety and uncertainty. He fell asleep.
He saw in a dream that he was lying in the same room in which he was actually lying, but that he was not wounded, but healthy. Many different faces, insignificant, indifferent, appear before Prince Andrei. He talks to them, argues about something unnecessary. They are getting ready to go somewhere. Prince Andrey vaguely remembers that all this is insignificant and that he has other, more important concerns, but continues to speak, surprising them, some empty, witty words. Little by little, imperceptibly, all these faces begin to disappear, and everything is replaced by one question about the closed door. He gets up and goes to the door to slide the bolt and lock it. Everything depends on whether he has time or not time to lock her. He walks, he hurries, his legs don’t move, and he knows that he won’t have time to lock the door, but still he painfully strains all his strength. And a painful fear seizes him. And this fear is the fear of death: it stands behind the door. But at the same time, as he powerlessly and awkwardly crawls towards the door, something terrible, on the other hand, is already, pressing, breaking into it. Something inhuman - death - is breaking at the door, and we must hold it back. He grabs the door, strains his last efforts - it is no longer possible to lock it - at least to hold it; but his strength is weak, clumsy, and, pressed by the terrible, the door opens and closes again.

Clusters and superclusters of galaxies. Local group. Galaxy Milky Way

The Milky Way Galaxy is part of a family of neighboring galaxies known as Local group and forms with them cluster of galaxies. Our Galaxy is one of the largest in the Local Group. The Andromeda Galaxy, part of the Local Group, is the most distant object visible to the naked eye. The 25 galaxies of the Local Group are scattered over 3 million light years. A cluster of galaxies is held together by gravitational forces. Larger galaxy clusters are the Virgo Cluster (several thousand objects) and the Coma Cluster (about 1000 bright elliptical galaxies and several thousand smaller objects). Our Galaxy and its neighbors in the Local Group are slowly moving towards the Virgo Cluster.

Clusters of galaxies, in turn, are grouped into families. The Local Group of Clusters, known as the Local Supercluster, is a formation that includes both the Local Group and the Virgo Cluster. The center of mass is located in the Virgo Cluster. Another supercluster is located in the constellation Hercules. It is 700 million light years away. Superclusters are separated from each other by giant empty spaces and form a spongy structure in the Universe.

Characteristics of galaxies included in the Local Group

Milky Way Galaxy

Milky Way- this is our Galaxy, consisting of 100 billion stars. Our Galaxy has 4 spiral arms, stars, gas and dust. Within 1000 light years of the galactic center, stars are very densely packed. In the very center of the Galaxy there is a mysterious source of colossal energy. There may be a black hole at the center of the Galaxy. The galaxy is spinning. Its internal parts rotate faster than its external parts. The Galaxy's disk is surrounded by a halo cloud of invisible matter.

9/10 The Milky Way galaxies are invisible. Our neighboring two galaxies - the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds - are attracted by an invisible halo and are absorbed by the Milky Way Galaxy.

Characteristics of the Milky Way Galaxy

* More distant flat component stars have more long periods appeals; those located closer to the center of the star have shorter periods. Central part Galaxies rotate like a solid body.

Subsystems of the Galaxy

Average distance of subsystem objects from the galactic plane, kps; T is the age of the stars included in the subsystem, years; M is the mass of the subsystem (in % of total mass Galaxies); N - expected total number objects.

The galactic core is elliptical in shape, dimensions 4.8? 3.1 kps; number of stars?3·E10 7 .

Central core Galaxies are elliptical in shape, size ~ 15? 30 ps; number of stars ~ 3·E10 6.

Nucleolus of the Galaxy - diameter ~ 1 ps; in its center there is a compact object (a black hole with a mass of 108-09 solar masses).

Star clusters (relatively close groups of stars):

scattered - diameter from 1.5 to 15 ps; age from several million to several billion years; the number of stars from several tens to several thousand; belong to the subsystem of the galactic plane;

ball - diameter from 15 to 200 ps; age 8-10 billion years; number of stars 10 5 -10 7 ; belong to the intermediate and extreme spherical subsystems.

The total number of stars in the Galaxy is 1.2-10 11.

What is the Milky Way? The most mysterious and beautiful thing in the sky, apparently, is the Milky Way, stretching like a necklace of precious stones from one end of the sky to the other. In ancient times, people, looking at this picture, like us, were surprised and delighted by this beauty.