On Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:50:24 -0600, Tom Polakis
wrote:

On Feb 1, 11:19 am, "William C. Keel" wrote:
Among NGC galaxies, you may well be seeing the elongation/flattening
of the Local Supercluster, roughly centered on the Virgo cluster.
Gerard de Vaucouleurs was almost alone for years in claiming
this as evidence for structure on a scale larger than obvious
clusters. He even defined a coordinate system aligned with this
"supergalactic plane" (which runs almost perpendicular to the
Milky Way plane)...


Larry,

I think Bill's answer is correct that you are seeing the nearby
galaxies along the Supergalactic Plane. If you can, change the
magnitude limits until you find the optimal setting, and the string of
galaxies from Ursa Major down though southern Virgo show up nicely. I
have shown this effect to others using desktop planetarium software.
The relative dearth of nearby galaxies in the Autumn sky compared to
the Spring sky is a result of our position in the Local Supercluster.

As for the comet orientations, I'm sure that if you used a large
enough sample of orbits, you'd find that their inclinations do not
have a preferred orientation.

Tom

Thanks Tom, Bill, and Greg.
I did realize that the Virgo Supercluster was probably involved,
and thought its roughly linear distribution to be curious.
As for whether the voids around the cluster were cosmic or just
local variations is something I'd be willing to debate, mostly
for the sake of better understanding.

I've recently read an introductory book on Fractal Geometry.
A fractal is any pattern in which a magnified view of a smaller
portion strongly resembles the larger set. Having voids appear
among local / bright galaxies triggered this association, and
I still wonder if the cosmic foam isn't a true fractal phenomenon
much like so many other phenomena - lightening flashes, river
tributaries, star patterns, etc.

Thanks again, all.

Cheers,
Larry G.



--
Your mind is a terrible thing to waste - TURN OFF YOUR TV!

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