The structure of the Universe traced by rich clusters of galaxies

Abstract

We study the whole-sky distribution of rich clusters of galaxies up to the distance z ≈ 0.1 and present catalogues of superclusters and cluster-defined voids. The data on clusters, superclusters and voids show the presence of the characteristic scale of 130 h–1 Mpc in the supercluster-void network, found earlier by Broadhurst et al. from a one-dimensional study. This scale has been detected in the distribution of clusters of richnesses R = 0 and R ≥ 1. We perform tests to study the influence of projection effects. The clusters that do not belong to superclusters are located in the vicinity of superclusters and form their outlying parts.