12. The Magnificent Drawer
Found Year: 1970s
The Parkes Radio Telescope made the discovery.
Where: Lanaikea Supercluster
The Great Attractor is the name given to this gravitational anomaly. It is the centre of the Laniakea Supercluster and is situated in intergalactic space. Compared to the Milky Way, the Great Attractor is millions of times more massive. We have difficulty seeing the Great Attractor because it is located outside of the Zone of Avoidance.
The Most Powerful Drawer Wikipedia and NASA/Hubble Space Telescope
The way the Great Attractor travels across galaxies hundreds of millions of light years across the universe allows us to “see” it. This gravitational anomaly is now travelling in the direction of the Shapley Supercluster. Scientists have been captivated and perplexed by the Great Attractor since its discovery in the 1970s. Our galaxy and about 400 other galaxies are slowly advancing towards this gravitational hotspot. It will be about thirteen billion years before the Great Attractor swallows us whole.
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