Map of the Universe
Zone of Avoidance
Region / boundary · Area of sky obscured by the Milky Way
About Zone of Avoidance
The map lists it as a region / boundary (observational gap) and shows it at the scale of the large-scale universe, drawn on the supergalactic plane.
The Milky Way's own dust and stars hide about a fifth of the sky (Galactic latitude within ~10°). On this map that blind band lies along these two wedges, so the emptiness there means 'unseen', not 'empty'. Radio and X-ray surveys find galaxies behind it, such as the Norma Cluster and the Vela Supercluster.
Key numbers
| Distance from the Sun | 196 million light-years |
|---|
Where it is
Its place in the universe, from the inside out: Observable universe.
Zoom out to see it in context: Laniakea, a view about 850 million light-years across.
From Wikipedia
The Zone of Avoidance, or Zone of Galactic Obscuration (ZGO), is the area of the sky that is obscured by the Milky Way.
Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Zone of Avoidance, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Nearby on the map
- Perseus Cluster Galaxy cluster
- Perseus–Pisces Supercluster Supercluster
- Local Sheet Large-scale structure
- Eridanus Cluster Galaxy cluster
- Local Void Cosmic void
- Fornax Cluster Galaxy cluster