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Finding Our Place in the Universe: How We Discovered Laniakea—the Milky Way's Home
How a team of researchers, led by the author, discovered our home galaxy's location in the universe.
You are here: on Earth, which is part of the solar system, which is in the Milky Way galaxy, which itself is within the extragalactic supercluster Laniakea. And how can we pinpoint our location so precisely? For twenty years, astrophysicist Hélène Courtois surfed the cosmos with international teams of researchers, working to map our local universe. In this book, Courtois describes this quest and the discovery of our home supercluster.
Courtois explains that Laniakea (which means “immense heaven” in Hawaiian) is the largest galaxy structure known to which we belong; it is huge, almost too large to comprehend—about five million light-years in diameter. It contains about 100,000 large galaxies like our own, and a million smaller ones. Writing accessibly for nonspecialists, Courtois describes the visualization and analysis that allowed her team to map such large structures of the universe. She highlights the work of individual researchers, including portraits of several exceptional women astrophysicists—presenting another side of astronomy. Key ideas are highlighted in text insets; illustrations accompany the main text.
The French edition of this book was named the Best Astronomy Book of 2017 by the astronomy magazine Ciel et espace. For this MIT Press English-language edition, Courtois has added descriptions of discoveries made after Laniakea: the cosmic velocity web and the Dipole and Cold Spot repellers. An engaging account of one of the most important discoveries in astrophysics in recent years, her story is a tribute to teamwork and international collaboration.
You are here: on Earth, which is part of the solar system, which is in the Milky Way galaxy, which itself is within the extragalactic supercluster Laniakea. And how can we pinpoint our location so precisely? For twenty years, astrophysicist Hélène Courtois surfed the cosmos with international teams of researchers, working to map our local universe. In this book, Courtois describes this quest and the discovery of our home supercluster.
Courtois explains that Laniakea (which means “immense heaven” in Hawaiian) is the largest galaxy structure known to which we belong; it is huge, almost too large to comprehend—about five million light-years in diameter. It contains about 100,000 large galaxies like our own, and a million smaller ones. Writing accessibly for nonspecialists, Courtois describes the visualization and analysis that allowed her team to map such large structures of the universe. She highlights the work of individual researchers, including portraits of several exceptional women astrophysicists—presenting another side of astronomy. Key ideas are highlighted in text insets; illustrations accompany the main text.
The French edition of this book was named the Best Astronomy Book of 2017 by the astronomy magazine Ciel et espace. For this MIT Press English-language edition, Courtois has added descriptions of discoveries made after Laniakea: the cosmic velocity web and the Dipole and Cold Spot repellers. An engaging account of one of the most important discoveries in astrophysics in recent years, her story is a tribute to teamwork and international collaboration.
184 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2016
30 people are currently reading
509 people want to read
About the author
Hélène Courtois
10 books9 followersHélène Courtois is a French astrophysicist specializing in cosmography. She is Professor and Vice President at the University of Lyon 1 and the director of a research team at the Lyon Institute of Nuclear Physics. She received the 2018 Scientist of the Year Award from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs for her international influence. She is featured in the 2019 documentary Cosmic Flows: The Cartographers of the Universe by CPB Films.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 12, 2022
Off to a a good start. Prof. Courtois is a genial guide, and she had a major role in this discovery, which had eluded me until now. She is a cosmographer, a cosmologist who specializes in mapping the largest known features in the cosmos. An animated video version of her team's discovery was projected onto a campus building at the University of Lyon, where she teaches. She writes well, and the book is blessedly short. Stay tuned!
The real review to read is by the Inquisitive Biologist, https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2020... He goes into the book in some detail, and includes a link to a Nature video which is worth watching, and will definitely help clarify the concepts Courtois writes about. Why don't you read his review first, if you are intrigued by her book. I'll wait.
As in any ongoing and active research area, this book is really just a progress report, from 2019. Since then, it's become clear that the titular Laniakea Supercluster is not gravitationally bound https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laniake... , and likely will disperse as individual component galaxies, such as our Milky Way, continue on their individual voyages to unknown destinations. The biggest unknown remains the so-called Dark Energy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_en..., which is currently (2018) estimated to account for 72% of the mass-energy of the universe. Ordinary matter, that makes up ourselves, our planets and our stars, makes up just 4.6%! And Dark Matter, equally mysterious but which keeps all the galaxies (and everything else) gravitationally bound, accounts for 23% of everything. So the stuff that all scientists study and sort-of understand, amounts to just 4.6% of everything! Pretty astonishing. Disheartening, really.
So. I recommend Prof. Courtois' book as a fine primer, even if it's already a bit out-of-date. So what? I keep up fairly well, and I learned lots of new-to-me stuff. As she points out in her coda, the more we learn, the happier we are! Go for it! And if you're a physics major in school, study this weird Dark Stuff. Guaranteed Nobel Prize, if you make some progress on Physics greatest unsolved mystery!
The real review to read is by the Inquisitive Biologist, https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2020... He goes into the book in some detail, and includes a link to a Nature video which is worth watching, and will definitely help clarify the concepts Courtois writes about. Why don't you read his review first, if you are intrigued by her book. I'll wait.
As in any ongoing and active research area, this book is really just a progress report, from 2019. Since then, it's become clear that the titular Laniakea Supercluster is not gravitationally bound https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laniake... , and likely will disperse as individual component galaxies, such as our Milky Way, continue on their individual voyages to unknown destinations. The biggest unknown remains the so-called Dark Energy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_en..., which is currently (2018) estimated to account for 72% of the mass-energy of the universe. Ordinary matter, that makes up ourselves, our planets and our stars, makes up just 4.6%! And Dark Matter, equally mysterious but which keeps all the galaxies (and everything else) gravitationally bound, accounts for 23% of everything. So the stuff that all scientists study and sort-of understand, amounts to just 4.6% of everything! Pretty astonishing. Disheartening, really.
So. I recommend Prof. Courtois' book as a fine primer, even if it's already a bit out-of-date. So what? I keep up fairly well, and I learned lots of new-to-me stuff. As she points out in her coda, the more we learn, the happier we are! Go for it! And if you're a physics major in school, study this weird Dark Stuff. Guaranteed Nobel Prize, if you make some progress on Physics greatest unsolved mystery!
May 11, 2022
Finding Our Place in the Universe was written by French astrophysicist Hélène Courtois who was instrumental in the research that lead to the exciting discovery of Laniakea. Laniakea is the name of the supercluster of galaxies in which the Milky Way, our home galaxy, exists. It means, "immense heaven" in Hawaiian, and truly is an immense web-like structure of more than 100,000 galaxies that are somewhat drawn together by gravity across a distance of 500 million light years.
The boundaries of supercluster structures are determined by studying the direction in which galaxies are moving. For example, our Milky Way is in Laniakea because we are pulled along a sort of "watershed" of lesser gravitational fields towards a central gravitational convergence point in Laniakea aptly known as the "Great Attractor."
The first few sections of the book offer useful review of discoveries and ideas in astrophysics and cosmography (the mapping of the universe), from how distances are determined in space, to the compelling subjects of dark matter and dark energy. I came at this book with the little bit of knowledge gleaned from an introductory to astronomy course in college that was taught by astrophysicist Alex Filippenko soon after his involvement in the discovery that the universe is accelerating in its expansion. That was more than 20 years ago, so I was very grateful for Courtois' explanations and review!
The remainder of the book deals primarily with the process of discovering Laniakea, which spanned many years, and it goes on to explain the exciting research into mapping even larger portions of the local universe.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is intrigued by and wants to learn more about the universe and our place in it. It's a truly awe-inspiring subject, and Courtois effectively conveys her knowledge, passion and excitement to readers.
The boundaries of supercluster structures are determined by studying the direction in which galaxies are moving. For example, our Milky Way is in Laniakea because we are pulled along a sort of "watershed" of lesser gravitational fields towards a central gravitational convergence point in Laniakea aptly known as the "Great Attractor."
The first few sections of the book offer useful review of discoveries and ideas in astrophysics and cosmography (the mapping of the universe), from how distances are determined in space, to the compelling subjects of dark matter and dark energy. I came at this book with the little bit of knowledge gleaned from an introductory to astronomy course in college that was taught by astrophysicist Alex Filippenko soon after his involvement in the discovery that the universe is accelerating in its expansion. That was more than 20 years ago, so I was very grateful for Courtois' explanations and review!
The remainder of the book deals primarily with the process of discovering Laniakea, which spanned many years, and it goes on to explain the exciting research into mapping even larger portions of the local universe.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is intrigued by and wants to learn more about the universe and our place in it. It's a truly awe-inspiring subject, and Courtois effectively conveys her knowledge, passion and excitement to readers.
November 2, 2020
A love letter to cosmology, Finding Our Place in the Universe is a short but thrilling read that gives the scientific backstory to one of astronomy's most striking images. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2020...
December 29, 2024
This was honestly a wonderful explanation of the expansive research Courtois has done on superclusters and the large-scale structure of the universe. There are helpful sidebars to explain difficult astrophysical concepts, but I think this book's target audience is definitely people with a background in astrophysics, because it would've been so easy for me to get lost without my degree. This book still deserves five stars despite being a little inaccessible because I loved it and Courtois' passion for her research is absolutely incandescent. What a delightful read.
October 3, 2020
Fascinating and enjoyable summary of the cosmic flows project. Found it technical but easy to read, wish it was longer and slightly more in depth, but would be great for those without a science background. Love the portraits of other female physicists, as a woman in the field I am often in teams where I am the only woman and have had derogatory comments made because of my gender. And where other books hardly ever mention women in the team even if they’ve contributed greatly, it is nice for one, albeit short, book to highlight those. Wish it was slightly more intersectional but that’s more of an issue with diversity in the field. All in all great read, the cosmic web is another great and slightly more in depth read if this captures your interest
August 30, 2019
This is a fantastic book on the amazing quest to find out place in the local universe and our position relative to the local supercluster - I doubly enjoyed the book since I know the author and a few other participants - and have played with some of the data for Planetarium presentation. This book offers a very pleasant journey along with Helene and other astronomers, and most importantly highlights the leading work by modern women astronomers in this quest. It’s accessible at any level as Helene explained in simple terms how her team got to the results they did.
March 14, 2020
This book was super fun to read. She gets technical at various points, but the books places these technical aspects as an aside, so you can skip them if you want (I dont recommend that though). It is crazy what people have done with telescopes, computers, their brains, and a little imagination. The universe is so beautiful and scary!
January 23, 2022
When I was in the midst of my Masters degree in Astronomy the Laniakea Cosmicflows-2 collaboration paper had just been published creating a stir in the astronomical community. It mapped the locations and relative motions of 8000 galaxies to visualize their super clustering and group interactions out to hundreds of millions of light years. It was a visual delight to look at (just go online and search for it to see the visualization).
Helene Courtois is the principal researcher on the project and describes her scientific journey on how she was able to map galaxies from the early inception of the project to being able to find partners and more advanced observational facilities to continually get the necessary data. She is an amazing, outstanding astronomer. The addition of portraits of other female astronomers added some color to the overview since their contributions tied directly to Courtois’ work.
A fascinating book overall but has a standard general audience basic astronomy beginning that dragged a bit for a few chapters. But once she gets into the project it really gets interesting. They’re already at Cosmicflows-4 now, measuring tens of thousands of galaxies. The map of our local universe will be much larger soon.
Helene Courtois is the principal researcher on the project and describes her scientific journey on how she was able to map galaxies from the early inception of the project to being able to find partners and more advanced observational facilities to continually get the necessary data. She is an amazing, outstanding astronomer. The addition of portraits of other female astronomers added some color to the overview since their contributions tied directly to Courtois’ work.
A fascinating book overall but has a standard general audience basic astronomy beginning that dragged a bit for a few chapters. But once she gets into the project it really gets interesting. They’re already at Cosmicflows-4 now, measuring tens of thousands of galaxies. The map of our local universe will be much larger soon.
March 28, 2021
Courtois writes with a passion that marries her lifelong search for structure in our universe. The search is full of twists and turns, but ultimately triumphant. This inside-look at one of the most important discoveries in cosmology is a must-read for anyone interested in knowing what the universe actually looks like; how it formed and where it's headed.
January 5, 2023
Written by one of the most famous cosmographers in the world, Hélène Courtois, this small book relates the discovery of Laniakea, the supercluster of galaxies to which the Milky Way belongs, as well as the methods used to achieve it. But much more than that, the work redefines the very notion of superclusters, as well as the structure and especially the very large-scale dynamics of the universe.
Two points should be noted: first, it is a real popular science, absolutely any point that is a bit technical or that could pose a problem for the uninitiated reader is explained very clearly which also makes reading even easier for the reader who already knows the concepts mentioned.
Then, the illustration of the book is absolutely remarkable: I'm not talking about the photos, but rather the explanatory diagrams, both very clear and very well done on a technical level. Having read other popular books from much more prestigious authors who were complex on this level, I can only admire the quality present in this book.
Hélène Courtois, therefore, traces all the steps that led to this new vision of the way galaxies position themselves in the universe, as well as their dynamics and behaviour.
She describes the scientific methods used, their principle (as simply as possible), the stages and difficulties of their development, their result, their discoverers (with a small biographical point, often), as well as her personal participation (very important) to the adventurous journey.
The book is not weighty, but there are anecdotes which must be used sparingly in a popular science book. A vague criticism I could make is that the point of view of opponents like that of Gayoung Chon, who does not consider Laniakea to be a supercluster, is not mentioned anywhere in the book.
Be that as it may, the new vision of our place in the universe acquired following this fascinating book is as unprecedented as it is grandiose.
While reading this book you will also realize that, far from the past vision of a largely static cosmos, or only marked by the expansion of the universe, the galaxies are in fact animated by an important dynamic. It is structuring the cosmic bodies into rivers flowing into gravitational basins. You will finally discover, after the Great Attractor which has caused so much ink to flow (and mobilized so many researchers for so long), a new gravitational "monster", the Shapley supercluster has emerged.
Easy and pleasant to read, particularly welcoming for the complete neophyte, this little book of cosmography (cartography of the cosmos) very well done technically (numerous explanatory diagrams very clear and of excellent craftsmanship), written by one of the great specialists in the field in an enthusiastic and engaging tone.
It will give you a breathtaking new vision of the place of the Milky Way in the universe, as well as of the structure and dynamics. A highly recommended book if you are interested in the geography/ structure of the cosmos and the dynamics of galaxies, and wish to take stock of knowledge on this particular subject.
Written by one of the most famous cosmographers in the world, Hélène Courtois, this small book relates the discovery of Laniakea, the supercluster of galaxies to which the Milky Way belongs, as well as the methods used to achieve it. But much more than that, the work redefines the very notion of superclusters, as well as the structure and especially the very large-scale dynamics of the universe.
Two points should be noted: first, it is a real popular science, absolutely any point that is a bit technical or that could pose a problem for the uninitiated reader is explained very clearly which also makes reading even easier for the reader who already knows the concepts mentioned.
Then, the illustration of the book is absolutely remarkable: I'm not talking about the photos, but rather the explanatory diagrams, both very clear and very well done on a technical level. Having read other popular books from much more prestigious authors who were complex on this level, I can only admire the quality present in this book.
Hélène Courtois, therefore, traces all the steps that led to this new vision of the way galaxies position themselves in the universe, as well as their dynamics and behaviour.
She describes the scientific methods used, their principle (as simply as possible), the stages and difficulties of their development, their result, their discoverers (with a small biographical point, often), as well as her personal participation (very important) to the adventurous journey.
The book is not weighty, but there are anecdotes which must be used sparingly in a popular science book. A vague criticism I could make is that the point of view of opponents like that of Gayoung Chon, who does not consider Laniakea to be a supercluster, is not mentioned anywhere in the book.
Be that as it may, the new vision of our place in the universe acquired following this fascinating book is as unprecedented as it is grandiose.
While reading this book you will also realize that, far from the past vision of a largely static cosmos, or only marked by the expansion of the universe, the galaxies are in fact animated by an important dynamic. It is structuring the cosmic bodies into rivers flowing into gravitational basins. You will finally discover, after the Great Attractor which has caused so much ink to flow (and mobilized so many researchers for so long), a new gravitational "monster", the Shapley supercluster has emerged.
Easy and pleasant to read, particularly welcoming for the complete neophyte, this little book of cosmography (cartography of the cosmos) very well done technically (numerous explanatory diagrams very clear and of excellent craftsmanship), written by one of the great specialists in the field in an enthusiastic and engaging tone.
It will give you a breathtaking new vision of the place of the Milky Way in the universe, as well as of the structure and dynamics. A highly recommended book if you are interested in the geography/ structure of the cosmos and the dynamics of galaxies, and wish to take stock of knowledge on this particular subject.
August 29, 2022
Helene Courtois is a professor in the University of Lyon, France and head of the Cosmic Flows team, an international group of experimental, theoretical and computational cosmologists that are tasked with mapping the local neighborhood of our universe to high accuracy, specifically 700 million light years to each side, covering several cosmic structures such as the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster, the Pavo-Indus Supercluster, the Fornax Supercluster, the Great Wall, and the Virgo Supercluster. Visualizations are included that show 2-d and 3-d maps of these formations, and the short book also includes discussions of cosmological methods for measuring the velocity and distance of galaxies, such as redshifting, the Faber-Jackson relationship for elliptical galaxies, and the Tully-Fisher relationship for spiral galaxies. The book also includes a personal account of Prof. Courtois' professional development as an astronomer, and vivid accounts of her stints in wonderful places such as Australia and Hawaii that are richly endowed in nature. It is a short book intended to bring cutting-edge results to a general audience and it's generously steeped with the author's joy and pride in her unique line of work.
At one point there is a brief profile of Prof. Brent Tully, a Canadian astronomer who teaches in Hawaii and lives in a small house between palm trees on the shores of the sea, as he tends to his garden, looks over the reefs, and contemplates the size of the universe-- a quite magical life. Thanks to this book, for the brief duration it takes to read and finish it, the reader gets to undertake that journey with him and other cosmographers.
At one point there is a brief profile of Prof. Brent Tully, a Canadian astronomer who teaches in Hawaii and lives in a small house between palm trees on the shores of the sea, as he tends to his garden, looks over the reefs, and contemplates the size of the universe-- a quite magical life. Thanks to this book, for the brief duration it takes to read and finish it, the reader gets to undertake that journey with him and other cosmographers.
January 26, 2023
Maravilloso trabajo de divulgación científica, como lo dice la Dra. Hélène en el epílogo de la obra: "La ciencia no es austera"... y vaya que no lo es.
Este es el segundo libro de la biblioteca científica Grano de Sal que tuve la oportunidad de leer, en ellos; he encontrado una muestra clara de lo necesaria que es la divulgación científica en los tiempos que corren. Los avances científicos que se realizan todos los días en los diversos campos de la ciencia, en este caso de la astrofísica y la cosmología, son mucho más impresionantes, y esbozan una proyección de nuestra realidad mucho más compleja y vertiginosa de lo que pensé antes de empezar a leer este tipo de libros, y esto a su vez ha tenido un impacto en la manera en la que percibo personalmente la vida misma.
Una lectura obligada para quien desea actualizar su concepción del universo, sobre todo, quién desea alejarse de la ventajosa maqueta que se le ha dado en las películas y medios de comunicación al inmenso océano en el que habitamos. También recomiendo leer el libro si deseas conocer el día a día de una investigadora de élite mundial y saber que hay detrás del mundo de los "Nobel" y los prejuicios que frecuentemente se tienen de los científicos y su trabajo.
Este es el segundo libro de la biblioteca científica Grano de Sal que tuve la oportunidad de leer, en ellos; he encontrado una muestra clara de lo necesaria que es la divulgación científica en los tiempos que corren. Los avances científicos que se realizan todos los días en los diversos campos de la ciencia, en este caso de la astrofísica y la cosmología, son mucho más impresionantes, y esbozan una proyección de nuestra realidad mucho más compleja y vertiginosa de lo que pensé antes de empezar a leer este tipo de libros, y esto a su vez ha tenido un impacto en la manera en la que percibo personalmente la vida misma.
Una lectura obligada para quien desea actualizar su concepción del universo, sobre todo, quién desea alejarse de la ventajosa maqueta que se le ha dado en las películas y medios de comunicación al inmenso océano en el que habitamos. También recomiendo leer el libro si deseas conocer el día a día de una investigadora de élite mundial y saber que hay detrás del mundo de los "Nobel" y los prejuicios que frecuentemente se tienen de los científicos y su trabajo.
September 9, 2022
A fantastic inside view on the process of scientific discovery, this short book is for everyone, even those who know the subject. The fascinating bits is not in the details of the background science, but in the nitty-gritty of the discovery process, with detailed descriptions of specific data acquisition and analysis. Great fun as an account of scientific adventure!
October 15, 2021
Din 4 septembrie 2014, avem in mod oficial o noua adresa cosmica! In acea zi, ne-a fost publicat in prestigioasa revista britanica Nature articolul care anunta descoperirea super-roiului extragalactic Laniakea. Acesta reprezinta cea mai mare structura de galaxii de care apartinem, cunoscuta pana in prezent. Numele sau, de origine hawaiiana, inseamna „orizont ceresc imens". Intr-adevar, dimensiunea sa este gigantica, foarte greu de conceput: masoara aproximativ 500 de milioane de ani-lumina in diametru; cu alte cuvinte, lumina are nevoie de 8oo de milioane de ani pentru a-l traversa dintr-o parte in alta. Laniakea include aproximativ 100.000 de galaxii mari, ca a noastra, si un milion de galaxii mai mici, ceea ce reprezinta in jur de 100 de milioane de miliarde de sori! Am sa va spun mai departe povestea descoperirii super-roiului de galaxii Laniakea, la care am contribuit activ.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews