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Does Gravity Rule the Universe?*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2016

Donald S. Mathewson*
Affiliation:
Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Australian National University, Private Bag, Weston, ACT 2611

Abstract

The initial results of a southern sky survey of the peculiar velocities of 1355 spiral galaxies by a group at Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories (MSSSO) are discussed against the background of past work in this area. The most important result is that the Great Attractor does not exist; rather, there is bulk flow relative to the cosmic microwave background (CMB) of amplitude 600 km s−1 and scale greater than 130 h−1 Mpc in the Supergalactic plane. This is generated by the assumption that the CMB dipole is Doppler induced by our Galaxy moving at 622 km s−1 relative to the CMB. This may be incorrect, in which case there is no bulk flow and the radiation dipole is cosmological in origin with important implications for the early Universe.

Type
Invited
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 1992

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Footnotes

*

The inaugural Robert Elley lecture

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