List of voids - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This is a list of voids

Void (astronomy)

In astronomy, voids are the empty spaces between filaments, the largest-scale structures in the Universe, that contain very few, or no, galaxies. They were first discovered in 1978 during a pioneering study by Stephen Gregory and Laird A. Thompson at the Kitt Peak National Observatory...

. Voids are particularly galaxy-poor volumes of space between filaments

Galaxy filament

In physical cosmology, galaxy filaments, also called supercluster complexes or great walls, are, so far, the largest known cosmic structures in the universe. They are massive, thread-like structures with a typical length of 50 to 80 megaparsecs h-1 that form the boundaries between large voids in...

, making up the large-scale structure of the universe. Some voids are known as supervoids.

Named Voids

Name	Distance to the centre	Dimensions	Notes
Local Void Local Void The Local Void is a vast, empty region of space, devoid of matter, located within the Virgo Supercluster and lying adjacent to our own Milky Way galaxy. Discovered by Brent Tully of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu, Hawaii, the Local Void is millions of light years in length, the exact...	cz=2500km/s	Diameter = 60 Mpc
Northern Local Supervoid Northern Local Supervoid The Northern Local Supervoid is a region of space devoid of rich clusters of galaxies, known as a void. It is located between the Local, Coma and Hercules superclusters. It contains a few small galaxy systems and galaxy clusters but is mostly empty. The faint galaxies within this void divide the...	61Mpc	Diameter = 104 Mpc	Virgo Supercluster Virgo Supercluster The Virgo Supercluster or Local Supercluster is the irregular supercluster that contains the Virgo Cluster in addition to the Local Group, which in turn contains the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. At least 100 galaxy groups and clusters are located within its diameter of 33 megaparsecs... , Coma Supercluster Coma Supercluster The Coma Supercluster is a nearby supercluster of galaxies comprising the Coma Cluster and the Leo Cluster . Located 300 million light-years from Earth, it is in the center of the Great Wall. The Coma Supercluster is the nearest massive cluster of galaxies to our own Virgo Supercluster... , Perseus-Pisces Supercluster Perseus-Pisces Supercluster The Perseus-Pisces Supercluster is one of the largest known structures in the universe. Even at a distance of 250 million light-years, this chain of galaxy clusters extends more than 40° across the northern winter sky... , Ursa Major-Lynx Supercluster, Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster The Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster , or the Hydra and Centaurus superclusters, is a supercluster in two parts and the closest neighbour of Milky Way's Virgo Supercluster.... , Sculptor Supercluster, Pavo-Corona Australes Supercluster form a sheet between the Northern Local Supervoid and the Southern Local Supervoid. The Hercules Supercluster separates the Northern Local Void from the Bootes Void Boötes void The Boötes void or the Great Void is a huge and approximately spherically shaped region of space, containing very few galaxies. It is located in the vicinity of the constellation Boötes, hence its name... . The Perseus-Pisces Supercluster Perseus-Pisces Supercluster The Perseus-Pisces Supercluster is one of the largest known structures in the universe. Even at a distance of 250 million light-years, this chain of galaxy clusters extends more than 40° across the northern winter sky... and Pegasus Supercluster form a sheet separate the Northern Local Void and Southern Local Void from the Pegasus Void.
Southern Local Supervoid Southern Local Supervoid The Southern Local Supervoid is a tremendously large, nearly empty region of space .It lies next to the Local Supercluster, which contains our galaxy the Milky Way. Its center is 96 megaparsecs away and the void is 112 megaparsecs in diameter across its narrowest width. Its volume is very...	96Mpc	Diameter = 112 Mpc	Virgo Supercluster Virgo Supercluster The Virgo Supercluster or Local Supercluster is the irregular supercluster that contains the Virgo Cluster in addition to the Local Group, which in turn contains the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. At least 100 galaxy groups and clusters are located within its diameter of 33 megaparsecs... , Coma Supercluster Coma Supercluster The Coma Supercluster is a nearby supercluster of galaxies comprising the Coma Cluster and the Leo Cluster . Located 300 million light-years from Earth, it is in the center of the Great Wall. The Coma Supercluster is the nearest massive cluster of galaxies to our own Virgo Supercluster... , Perseus-Pisces Supercluster Perseus-Pisces Supercluster The Perseus-Pisces Supercluster is one of the largest known structures in the universe. Even at a distance of 250 million light-years, this chain of galaxy clusters extends more than 40° across the northern winter sky... , Ursa Major-Lynx Supercluster, Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster The Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster , or the Hydra and Centaurus superclusters, is a supercluster in two parts and the closest neighbour of Milky Way's Virgo Supercluster.... , Sculptor Supercluster, Pavo-Corona Australes Supercluster form a sheet between the Northern Local Supervoid and the Southern Local Supervoid. The Perseus-Pisces Supercluster Perseus-Pisces Supercluster The Perseus-Pisces Supercluster is one of the largest known structures in the universe. Even at a distance of 250 million light-years, this chain of galaxy clusters extends more than 40° across the northern winter sky... and Pegasus Supercluster form a sheet separate the Northern Local Void and Southern Local Void from the Pegasus Void.
Giant Void	z=0.116	Diameter = 300-400 Mpc	"Giant Void in NGH" or "AR-Lp 36" ; NGH stands for "Northern Galactic Hemisphere" ; discovered in 1988 It is the largest void in the NGH where z<0.14

Voids designated by their constellation

Name	Coordinates of the centre	Distance to the centre	Dimensions	Data	Notes
Bootes Void Boötes void The Boötes void or the Great Void is a huge and approximately spherically shaped region of space, containing very few galaxies. It is located in the vicinity of the constellation Boötes, hence its name... (Great Void)		150Mpc	Diameter = 100 Mpc		The Hercules Supercluster separates the Northern Local Void from the Bootes Void. The Hercules Supercluster thus forms part of the near edge of the Bootes Void.
Canis Major Void
Columba Void
Coma Void					Discovered in 1975, along with the Coma Supercluster Coma Supercluster The Coma Supercluster is a nearby supercluster of galaxies comprising the Coma Cluster and the Leo Cluster . Located 300 million light-years from Earth, it is in the center of the Great Wall. The Coma Supercluster is the nearest massive cluster of galaxies to our own Virgo Supercluster... , it lies in front of the Coma Cluster. It was the first void to be discovered, and is approximately 1/3 as far away as the much larger Bootes Void.
Corona Borealis Void
Eridanus Void					This void is separated from the Sculptor void by a sheet of galaxies.
Eridanus Supervoid (Great Void)		z=1	Diameter = 150 Mpc		The claimed Eridanus Supervoid or "Great Void", reported on 24 August 2007 by the NRAO from Very Large Array Very Large Array The Very Large Array is a radio astronomy observatory located on the Plains of San Agustin, between the towns of Magdalena and Datil, some fifty miles west of Socorro, New Mexico, USA... Sky Survey data. This void, if real, would be much larger than the others listed here, being about 300/h Mpc in diameter and 1800–3000/h Mpc distant (where h is the Hubble constant). It would be associated with (and be the explanation of) a cold spot WMAP cold spot The CMB Cold Spot or WMAP Cold Spot is a region of the sky seen in microwaves which analysis found to be unusually large and cold relative to the expected properties of the cosmic microwave background radiation... in the cosmic microwave background at the sky location. The evidence for such a "Great Void" is disputed by Smith and Huterer. They showed that the claims made of observational evidence for such a void from survey data neglected systematic effects, and did not account for a posteriori choices made in analyzing data.
Southern Eridanus Void					The Southern Eridanus void is connected to the Eridanus void by a hole in the distribution of galaxies separating the two. A hole in the distribution of galaxies separating Sculptor and Southern Eridanus voids the size of (redshift) 1250km/s appears to exist.
Fornax Void
Hercules Void		cz=7000km/s	Diameter = 3100 km/s		discovered in 1979
Hydra Void					The Hydra Void lies beyond the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster The Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster , or the Hydra and Centaurus superclusters, is a supercluster in two parts and the closest neighbour of Milky Way's Virgo Supercluster....
Leo Void		cz=4000km/s
Microscopium Void					A hole in the distribution of galaxies separating Sculptor and Microscopium voids the size of (redshift) 1250km/s appears to exist. This is roughly 1/2 of Microscopium's diameter.
Ophiucus Void	near	less than 5000 km/s (the outer limit)	perhaps 0-5000 km/s	25% of average universe density is the void density of matter	The far end of this void is defined by the Ophiucus Supercluster
Pegasus Void		cz=5500km/s	Diameter = 40 Mpc		The Perseus-Pisces Supercluster Perseus-Pisces Supercluster The Perseus-Pisces Supercluster is one of the largest known structures in the universe. Even at a distance of 250 million light-years, this chain of galaxy clusters extends more than 40° across the northern winter sky... and Pegasus Supercluster form a sheet separate the Northern Local Void and Southern Local Void from the Pegasus Void.
Perseus-Pisces Void		cz=8000km/s	Diameter = 3000 km/s		Discovered in 1980 , it is also called the Perseus Void
Sagittarius Void
Sculptor Void			Diameter = 34.8 Mpc/h		Corresponds to SRSS1 Void 3 and SRSS2 Void 5 This void is separated from the Eridanus Void by a sheet of galaxies. A hole in the distribution of galaxies separating Sculptor and Micrsocopium Voids the size of 1250km/s appears to exist. A hole in the distribution of galaxies separating Sculptor and Southern Eridanus Voids the size of 1250km/s appears to exist. The Sculptor Void lies next to the Southern Wall or Southern Great Wall.
Taurus Void			Diameter = 100 Mly		The Taurus Void appears large and circular, and has walls of galaxies surrounding it. It lies next to the Perseus-Pisces Supercluster Perseus-Pisces Supercluster The Perseus-Pisces Supercluster is one of the largest known structures in the universe. Even at a distance of 250 million light-years, this chain of galaxy clusters extends more than 40° across the northern winter sky... , and is the most visually identifiable. Several galaxies have been found to reside in the void, such as UGC 2627 and UGC 2629, both approximately 185 million light years away.

Other voids

Designation	Location	Coordinates of the centre	Distance to the centre	Diameter	Dimensions	Notes
Bahcall & Soneiro 1982 void	z = 0.03 — 0.08				150 h^-1Mpc deep 300 h^-1Mpc wide 60 h^-1Mpc tall	This suspected void ranged 100 degrees across the sky, and has shown up on other surveys as several separate voids.

Tully list

In 1985, Tully determined a local dominant supercluster plane, and found the Pisces-Cetus Supercluster Complex

Pisces-Cetus Supercluster Complex

The Pisces-Cetus Supercluster Complex is a complex of galaxy superclusters or galaxy filament that includes the Virgo Supercluster .-Discovery:...

#	Distance to the centre (h^-1Mpc)	Diameter (h^-1Mpc)	Notes
1	90	140
2	100	136
3	150	150
4	170	173
5	180	158	Bootes Void Boötes void The Boötes void or the Great Void is a huge and approximately spherically shaped region of space, containing very few galaxies. It is located in the vicinity of the constellation Boötes, hence its name...
6	190	171
7	190	174
8	250	170
9	280	229
10	310	243
11	310	270

B&B Abell-derived list

In a 1985 study of Abell clusters, 29 voids were determined, in the sphere z<0.1 around us.

#	Distance to the centre (h^-1Mpc)	Diameter (h^-1Mpc)	Notes
1	293	100
2	276	100
3	284	100
4	275	150
5	300	100
6	220	100
7	180	120
8	137	140
9	262	200
10	285	110
11	219	110
12	293	120
13	206	110
14	276	100
15	272	150
16	237	100
17	105	110
18	154	200	Bootes Void Boötes void The Boötes void or the Great Void is a huge and approximately spherically shaped region of space, containing very few galaxies. It is located in the vicinity of the constellation Boötes, hence its name...
19	297	110
20	265	210
21	283	160
22	286	140
23	295	110
24	291	130
25	110	100
26	237	100
27	155	130
28	284	160
29	203	120

SSRS1 list

A redshift survey of galaxies in the southern sky in 1988, out to a distance of 120 Mpc/h, revealed some voids.

#	Distance to the centre (V)	Dimensions W x H x D (h^-1Mpc)	Constellation	Notes
1	3000 km/s	30 x 30 x 40	Phoenix Phoenix (constellation) Phoenix is a minor constellation in the southern sky. It is named after the Phoenix, a mythical bird. It is faint: there are only two stars in the whole constellation which are brighter than magnitude 5.0... /Eridanus Eridanus (constellation) Eridanus is a constellation. It is represented as a river; its name is the Ancient Greek name for the Po River. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is the sixth largest of the modern...	Located just behind the galaxy concentration in Eridanus-Fornax-Dorado
2	5000 km/s	30 x 30 x 30	Capricornus/Microscopium
3	6000 km/s	70 x 30 x 50	Sculptor Sculptor (constellation) Sculptor is a small and faint constellation in the southern sky. It represents a sculptor. It was introduced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century. He originally named it Apparatus Sculptoris , but the name was later shortened.-Notable features:No stars brighter than 3rd magnitude are... /Grus Grus (constellation) Grus is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the crane, a species of bird. It was introduced in the late sixteenth century.-History:The stars that form Grus were originally considered part of Piscis Austrinus...
4	9000 km/s	50 x 100 x 50	Horologium/Eridanus Eridanus (constellation) Eridanus is a constellation. It is represented as a river; its name is the Ancient Greek name for the Po River. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is the sixth largest of the modern...

SSRS2 list

In 1994, a redshift survey in the southern sky identified 18 voids, 11 of which are major voids.

#	Distance to the centre (r)	Diameter (h^-1Mpc)	Constellation	Notes
1	85.7	54.3	Cetus	major void
2	99.7	56.2	Fornax	major void SRSS1 Void 4
3	107.2	60.8	Aquarius Aquarius (constellation) Aquarius is a constellation of the zodiac, situated between Capricornus and Pisces. Its name is Latin for "water-bearer" or "cup-bearer", and its symbol is , a representation of water....	major void
4	66.7	35.6	Capricornus	major void
5	53.0	34.8	Aquarius Aquarius (constellation) Aquarius is a constellation of the zodiac, situated between Capricornus and Pisces. Its name is Latin for "water-bearer" or "cup-bearer", and its symbol is , a representation of water.... /Sculptor Sculptor (constellation) Sculptor is a small and faint constellation in the southern sky. It represents a sculptor. It was introduced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century. He originally named it Apparatus Sculptoris , but the name was later shortened.-Notable features:No stars brighter than 3rd magnitude are...	major void SRSS1 Void 3 (Sculptor Void)
6	56.5	32.0	Eridanus Eridanus (constellation) Eridanus is a constellation. It is represented as a river; its name is the Ancient Greek name for the Po River. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is the sixth largest of the modern...	major void
7	77.2	25.5	Eridanus Eridanus (constellation) Eridanus is a constellation. It is represented as a river; its name is the Ancient Greek name for the Po River. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is the sixth largest of the modern...	major void
8	83.9	27.8	Aquarius Aquarius (constellation) Aquarius is a constellation of the zodiac, situated between Capricornus and Pisces. Its name is Latin for "water-bearer" or "cup-bearer", and its symbol is , a representation of water....	major void
9	114.6	39.0	Eridanus Eridanus (constellation) Eridanus is a constellation. It is represented as a river; its name is the Ancient Greek name for the Po River. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is the sixth largest of the modern...	major void
10	104.7	34.8	Cetus	major void
11	112.8	42.9	Sculptor Sculptor (constellation) Sculptor is a small and faint constellation in the southern sky. It represents a sculptor. It was introduced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century. He originally named it Apparatus Sculptoris , but the name was later shortened.-Notable features:No stars brighter than 3rd magnitude are...	major void
12	74.8	25.0	Piscis Austrinus/Sculptor Sculptor (constellation) Sculptor is a small and faint constellation in the southern sky. It represents a sculptor. It was introduced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century. He originally named it Apparatus Sculptoris , but the name was later shortened.-Notable features:No stars brighter than 3rd magnitude are...
13	31.0	22.1	Cetus	SRSS1 Void 1
14	87.2	21.3	Piscis Austrinus/Microscopium
15	116.1	27.3	Microscopium
16	36.5	20.3	Capricornus
17	32.1	19.0	Eridanus Eridanus (constellation) Eridanus is a constellation. It is represented as a river; its name is the Ancient Greek name for the Po River. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is the sixth largest of the modern...
18	85.9	21.1	Eridanus Eridanus (constellation) Eridanus is a constellation. It is represented as a river; its name is the Ancient Greek name for the Po River. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is the sixth largest of the modern...

1994 EEDTA Whole Sky Survey

A 1994 census lists a total of 27 supervoids within a cube of 740 Mpc a side, centered on us (z=0.1 distant sphere).

#	Coordinates (B1950.0) of the centre	Distance (Mpc/h) to the centre	Diameter (Mpc/h) This is the diameter of the largest sphere one can describe inside the void that contains no superclusters. Some voids have an elongated shape, so this diameter may underrepresent the size of some voids.	Notes
1	19.0°	134	88
2	28.2°	207	96
3	34.8°	216	72
4	36.6°	241	86
5	37.8°	129	92
6	46.0°	236	72
7	62.0°	248	100
8	71.2°	201	76
9	121.7°	96	112	Southern Local Supervoid Southern Local Supervoid The Southern Local Supervoid is a tremendously large, nearly empty region of space .It lies next to the Local Supercluster, which contains our galaxy the Milky Way. Its center is 96 megaparsecs away and the void is 112 megaparsecs in diameter across its narrowest width. Its volume is very...
10	130.0°	246	144
11	140.4°	160	92
12	146.9°	227	106
13	153.1°	246	94
14	159.9°	167	68
15	161.6°	241	98
16	167.4°	222	74
17	186.9°	216	94
18	196.8°	119	102
19	204.8°	119	108
20	214.6°	216	78	Boötes void Boötes void The Boötes void or the Great Void is a huge and approximately spherically shaped region of space, containing very few galaxies. It is located in the vicinity of the constellation Boötes, hence its name... (Great Void)
21	216.7°	143	116
22	219.8°	246	96
23	220.2°	219	72
24	256.1°	61	104	Northern Local Supervoid Northern Local Supervoid The Northern Local Supervoid is a region of space devoid of rich clusters of galaxies, known as a void. It is located between the Local, Coma and Hercules superclusters. It contains a few small galaxy systems and galaxy clusters but is mostly empty. The faint galaxies within this void divide the...
25	353.0°	198	74
26	356.6°	246	80
27	358.9°	241	70

Galactic Anti-Center IRAS search

In a 1995 study of IRAS data looking for large-scale structure in the Galactic Anticenter in the Zone of Avoidance

Zone of Avoidance

The Zone of Avoidance is the area of the night sky that is obscured by our own galaxy, the Milky Way.-Term:The ZOA was originally called the "Zone of Few Nebulae" in an 1878 paper by English astronomer Richard Proctor that referred to the distribution of "nebulae" in Sir John Herschel's General...

, four voids were discovered.

#	Distance to the centre (km/s)	Dimensions ( degrees x degrees x km/s )	Notes
V0	1000	96x36x2000
V1	3750	15x36x3500	V1 and V2 are connected, and block the Perseus-Pisces Supercluster Perseus-Pisces Supercluster The Perseus-Pisces Supercluster is one of the largest known structures in the universe. Even at a distance of 250 million light-years, this chain of galaxy clusters extends more than 40° across the northern winter sky... from traversing the Zone of Avoidance Zone of Avoidance The Zone of Avoidance is the area of the night sky that is obscured by our own galaxy, the Milky Way.-Term:The ZOA was originally called the "Zone of Few Nebulae" in an 1878 paper by English astronomer Richard Proctor that referred to the distribution of "nebulae" in Sir John Herschel's General...
V2	8000	25x14x2000	V1 and V2 are connected, and block the Perseus-Pisces Supercluster Perseus-Pisces Supercluster The Perseus-Pisces Supercluster is one of the largest known structures in the universe. Even at a distance of 250 million light-years, this chain of galaxy clusters extends more than 40° across the northern winter sky... from traversing the Zone of Avoidance Zone of Avoidance The Zone of Avoidance is the area of the night sky that is obscured by our own galaxy, the Milky Way.-Term:The ZOA was originally called the "Zone of Few Nebulae" in an 1878 paper by English astronomer Richard Proctor that referred to the distribution of "nebulae" in Sir John Herschel's General...
V3	7000	30x20x2000	This void lies in front of the CfA2 Great Wall

IRAS list

Analysis of the IRAS redshift survey in 1997 revealed 24 voids, 12 of which were termed "significant"

#	Supergalactic Coordinates to the centre (r,X,Y,Z)	Diameter (h^-1Mpc)	Notes
1	(55.2,-10.4,-53.8,6.1)	51.0	significant void
2	(49.6,-25.3,31.4,-28.9)	43.8	significant void
3	(46.0,-24.8,26.7,28.1)	44.5	significant void
4	(46.5,8.7,24.7,38.4)	45.0	significant void Local Void Local Void The Local Void is a vast, empty region of space, devoid of matter, located within the Virgo Supercluster and lying adjacent to our own Milky Way galaxy. Discovered by Brent Tully of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu, Hawaii, the Local Void is millions of light years in length, the exact...
5	(32.0,-13.0,-23.9,-16.9)	36.0	significant void
6	(51.5,17.0,-32.2,36.4)	41.4	significant void
7	(57.1,31.2,44.9,16.5)	43.5	significant void
8	(60.4,-25.8,-22.7,-49.7)	39.5	significant void
9	(49.8,35.9,-25.6,-23.0)	36.0	significant void
10	(63.3,-48.0,-40.9,6.0)	33.6	significant void Sculptor Void
11	(48.6,11.8,46.6,-6.9)	32.0	significant void
12	(49.9,-15.6,-35.7,31.3)	31.5	significant void
13	(62.8,14.2,29.3,-53.7)	40.3
14	(19.0,0.7,-16.4,9.6)	28.8
15	(37.6,32.4,-17.0,8.6)	30.4	Perseus-Pisces Void