Trending Now - Milky Way's Hidden Zone Reveals Massive Galaxy Supercluster

WHO:

Space.com - The Vela Supercluster was discovered by a team led by Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg of the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

Space.com - The study was led by Amber Hollinger of the Lyon 1 Claude Bernard University in France.

WHAT:

Space.com - The Vela Supercluster contains over 20 individual galaxy clusters.

Yahoo - The Vela Supercluster has a mass of 33,800 trillion solar masses.

Space.com - The Vela Supercluster is approximately 300 million light-years wide.

Space.com - The Vela Supercluster's gravitational influence exceeds that of the Great Attractor.

WHERE:

Space.com - The Vela Supercluster is located about 870 million light-years away from Earth.

Space.com - The Vela Supercluster is situated in the Milky Way's Zone of Avoidance.

WHEN:

Space.com - The Vela Supercluster was discovered in 2016.

WHY:

Space.com - The discovery of the Vela Supercluster helps complete the map of the nearby Universe.

HOW:

Space.com - The research team used 65,518 galaxy distance measurements from the CosmicFlows catalogue and 8,283 new galaxy redshifts.

Space.com - Observations were made using the Southern African Large Optical Telescope (SALT) and the MeerKAT radio telescope array in South Africa.

Space.com - MeerKAT detected galaxies in the Zone of Avoidance by capturing radio waves from their hydrogen gas, which can pass through dust lanes in the Milky Way.

(UPDATED May 5, 2026 05:57 UTC)

A team led by Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg from the University of Cape Town has discovered the Vela Supercluster, which contains over 20 individual galaxy clusters and has a mass of 33,800 trillion solar masses. Located about 870 million light-years away from Earth in the Milky Way's Zone of Avoidance, this supercluster is approximately 300 million light-years wide and has a gravitational influence that exceeds that of the Great Attractor. The research utilized 65,518 galaxy distance measurements from the CosmicFlows catalogue and new observations from the Southern African Large Optical Telescope and the MeerKAT radio telescope array, which successfully detected galaxies by capturing radio waves from their hydrogen gas.