Astronomers Map a Hidden Giant: the Vela Supercluster Behind the Milky Way

Researchers have mapped the Vela Supercluster, a massive galaxy assembly hidden behind the Milky Way’s dust in the Zone of Avoidance. Using SALT and the MeerKAT radio telescope, the structure—about 300 million light-years across and roughly 800 million light-years from Earth—contains the mass of ~30 quadrillion suns, making it one of the largest known local-universe structures. The discovery, ten years after its initial identification, helps refine models of cosmology and the distribution of matter in the universe, with future radio telescopes expected to yield even more detailed maps.