huge, almost empty space
Cosmic void
Only about 60 galaxies have been found in the Boötes Void – normally there would be thousands.
Key figures
- Typical size
- 30 to 300 million light-years
- Share of the volume
- most of the universe
- Best known
- the Boötes Void, about 330 million ly across
- Our neighbour
- the Local Void, right next to the Local Group
Interesting facts
- Voids expand and become ever emptier: their few galaxies are pulled towards the walls.
How do voids form?
Shortly after the Big Bang, matter was spread out almost evenly, with tiny differences. Where there was a little more, gravity pulled in even more – where there was a little less, it became ever emptier. That is how the filaments, clusters and voids formed over billions of years.
Where is it?
Cosmic void belongs to the “The cosmic web” level of the Cosmic Zoom (field of view about 600 million light-years). Galaxies are spread out like dewdrops on a gigantic spider's web: in clusters and long filaments, with vast voids in between. Here the whole Local Group is a single point of light.
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