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Article: Quo vadis? (galaxies)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- May 7, 1988
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1988 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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GALAXIES are gregarious but frustrated Due to circumstances beyond their control they normally move away from each other; yet still their gravity urges them to flock together. Over the past 18 months some astronomers have claimed that a rallying of galaxies is happening on a hitherto unrecognised scale in our part of the universe. They believe that the Milky Way galaxy (with our sun in it), and most of its neighbours, are heading off towards something they call the Great Attractor, roughly 200m light-years away in the direction of the stars of the Southern Cross.
This herd instinct is normally thwarted. The universe is expanding, so its galaxies are moving apart ...