The Great Attractor

No matter where you are, you are always moving. The Earth orbits the sun, and the sun moves round the galaxy. But what is it that makes the galaxy move? That is going to be our topic today. Everything in our local galaxy supercluster, Laniakea, is being dragged towards a very high concentration of mass hidden behind the plane of our galaxy. It has all the ingredients for an epic space mystery, it is the Great Attractor.

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MUSIC (In order of appearance):

YouTube Audio Library Tracks:
- Stark Goes Dark - The Whole Other
- Subharmonic Bliss - Loopop
- Through and Through - Amulets
- Zodiac Structures - NoMBe
- Resolver - Amulets
- The Annuaki Return - Jesse Gallagher
- Amber - VYEN
- The Light Within - The Westerlies

FOOTAGE:
The space scenes in this video were captured using SpaceEngine Pro, a virtual universe simulator:

SOURCES OF INFORMATION:

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Introduction
2:13 Galaxies
4:04 Our Local Universe
6:56 The Laniakea Supercluster
9:00 The Great Attractor
10:03 The Zone of Avoidance
11:45 History of Great Attractor Observations
13:56 Surveying the Great Attractor Region
18:39 Dark Flow
20:27 The Dipole Repeller
22:16 CIZA Search
23:37 The Shapley Supercluster
26:03 The Vela Supercluster
27:30 Closing Statements

[calebhightower]

Harambe in 2016: “listen kid, I don’t have much time, the great attractor is-“

[CarthagoMike]

It always amazes me that the Great Attractor itself is also attracted to an even greater Attractor.

[srikalyan]

Scary that something this enormous to even comprehend is being pulled by something more massive.

[olliepopAMV]

This was my first video I've seen from you awhile back. I still come back to this every once in a while. Top 10 YouTube videos I've seen in my life as a chronic youtuber. Got your mug too :)

[ed_ELA]

I recently bought my first house and played all your videos while I painted the rooms and did some minor repair over the course of two months before fully moving in. Your videos are the best and are now forever part of my memory of my new home. I was born and raised in Hawaii but moved away. This video is so fitting for me to finally have made a comment with a Hawaiian name given to the super cluster. Thank you.

[PandaRehab]

"If you're watching this video chances are you'll be sitting down somewhere"
Me on the toilet: ye

[slinkerdeer]

Gems of YouTube that are channels (content creators) like this are why I use the platform

[victorrychkov]

Don't worry, guys, we only gotta wait for about 100 million years to see exactly what the heck the great attractor is from the opposite side of the galaxy, no biggie.

[TJSaw]

It’s incredible to me that a primate species born and evolving on a random tiny speck of rock orbiting a random star in a random galaxy figured all of this out.

[darthmandude]

The "great attractor" is blocked by the zone of "avoidance" sums up my relationship with my crush.

[bunvgno]

I'm a dumbass that has never studied but always been fascinated by space and how everything works, your videos are so easy to understand and so well designed and your voice is so clear! Love it

[ianv.a.]

I always get this sickly sinking feeling in my stomach watching these. Kinda like when your stomach drops while also feeling an existential dread at the same time

[technowelliebobs]

You've just painted, from scratch, an intuitive image in my head of our galaxy's path through the universe and its relationship to other celestial objects in under half hour. Kudos

[NeilTurnbull]

" Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonics. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence."- Alan Wilson Watts.

[ianmichaelt]

I've always been obsessed with astronomy. Your channel is the best source of information regarding up to date discoveries. No crap or childish editing; just the information in a thoughtful and articulate manner. Thank you!! 👏👏

[Ominous]

This reminds me of a dream I once had when I was young. It was a long falling dream about flying along floating giants, made of stars. It made me feel very little and vulnerable and insignificant. I fell out of the galaxy, a moment later, the galaxy looked just like a star and then I saw a giant made of galaxies. I woke up because I couldn't comprehend how big it was.

This image of The Great Attractor looks just like it.

[cl]

This video let me think of the words of the Desiderata : "You are a child of the universe. No less than the trees and stars. You have a right to be here."

[purplehaze]

"Dark in the sense that it is unknown and beyond our realm of understanding"
I love how the way that's phrased makes it sound like the great attractor is a lovecraftian horror or something.

[MaishidaHD]

As I do really love space, it just makes me sad that we may not find out most of its mysteries in my life time.

[gobeaugo]

Finally!!! Someone has gotten around to addressing the apparent discrepancy between constantly telling us that all galaxies are drifting away from each other, yet some areas are coming closer together. Thank you.