VISUAL ARCHIVE / IMAGE STORY
Absence Found in a Survey
Measurements of galaxy redshifts reveal a gap that a single sky photograph cannot explain.
Astronomers discovered the Boötes Void by measuring galaxy redshifts and reconstructing their positions in three-dimensional space. What emerged was an enormous region with far fewer galaxies than expected.
THE OBSERVATION
What we can actually see.
An angular position tells only part of a galaxy’s location. Redshift surveys add distance information through a cosmological interpretation, allowing astronomers to identify large underdense regions rather than mistaking a sparse image for an empty volume.
THE ILLUSTRATION
What the artwork imagines.
The composition visualizes this idea: Measurements of galaxy redshifts reveal a gap that a single sky photograph cannot explain. Astronomers discovered the Boötes Void by measuring galaxy redshifts and reconstructing their positions in three-dimensional space. What emerged was an enormous region with far fewer galaxies than expected.
FROM THE ILLUSTRATED ARTICLE
The story that inspired it.
The article explores the discovery of the Boötes Void and the difference between a sparse intergalactic environment and an empty sky. It uses an imagined isolated observer to ask how surroundings could change our understanding of the wider universe. This frame focuses on measurements of galaxy redshifts reveal a gap that a single sky photograph cannot explain.
Read The Great Nothing: What If Your Galaxy Was Trapped Inside 330 Million Light-Years of Emptiness?CHECK THE RECORD
The image interprets the research below. Follow the original work for the measurements and limits behind the scene.
Research record: doi.org/10.1086/183623 Research record: doi.org/10.1086/165080 Research record: ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1987ApJ...314L..33M/abstract Research record: arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9511128 Research record: doi.org/10.1086/118604 Research record: ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/q=title%3A%22A%20hierarchy%20of%20voids%22OTHER IMAGE STORIES
Keep looking.
The Great Underdensity
The Bright Edges of Emptiness
The Mark Shared by Titan and PlutoEXPLORE IN 3D / MAP 13
Move outward through the cosmic neighborhood
Move from our galactic neighborhood toward the cosmic web. The explorer explains scale; it is not an observed map of the Boötes Void or the imagined civilization in this artwork.
Open Universe map