What Are Tendrils?

Many of us are familiar with the "cosmic web," which describes the intricate way galaxies are organized into clusters and nodes connected by long strings. However, many of us may not be familiar with "tendrils." This is because this is a fairly new concept.

In contrast to the belief that galaxies located in the voids, or empty space between clusters, of the cosmic web are arranged randomly, Australian astronomers from the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research recently discovered that the galaxies are actually arranged in small, delicate strings leading into the vast empty space. It is this new type of structure that they termed "tendrils."

In order to discover these "tendrils," the scientists made use of the data from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, which brings together data from numerous instruments including the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy and the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Further cataloging is on the way to find more tendrils.

The result: the voids are not as empty as we thought!

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I also found this short video on tendrils, so feel free to check it out here.