Zone of Avoidance

E517966

The Zone of Avoidance is a region of the sky heavily obscured by the Milky Way’s dust and stars, making observations of extragalactic objects within it particularly difficult.

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Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf astronomical concept
region of the sky
alsoAffects near‑infrared observations
alsoKnownAs Zone of Avoidance of galaxies NERFINISHED
galactic Zone of Avoidance NERFINISHED
causeOfObscuration dense star fields in the Milky Way
interstellar dust in the Milky Way
centeredOn Galactic plane
characterizedBy high extinction
high stellar density
definedRelativeTo Milky Way NERFINISHED
dependsOn distribution of dust in the Milky Way
line of sight through the Galactic disk
effect incompleteness of galaxy catalogs near the Galactic plane
reduced visibility of extragalactic objects
hasConsequence biases in estimates of local gravitational potential
uncertainty in mass distribution near the Milky Way
hasProperty direction‑dependent extinction
non‑uniform boundaries
historicallyIdentifiedBy optical galaxy counts
isSubsetOf celestial sphere
lessSevereIn X‑ray wavelengths
radio wavelengths
locatedIn sky
mainlyAffects optical observations
makesDifficult identification of galaxy clusters behind the Milky Way
mapping large‑scale structure of the Universe
mitigatedBy infrared observations of galaxies
multi‑wavelength observations
radio observations of galaxies
obscures background galaxies
background galaxy clusters
quasars behind the Milky Way
observedUsing 21‑cm neutral hydrogen surveys
X‑ray cluster surveys
infrared all‑sky surveys
problemFor all‑sky galaxy redshift surveys
cosmic flow studies
reconstruction of the density field of nearby Universe
relatedTo Great Attractor NERFINISHED
Local Supercluster NERFINISHED
cosmic large‑scale structure
requires correction methods in cosmological analyses
stillRelevantIn modern all‑sky surveys
studiedIn Galactic astronomy
cosmology
extragalactic astronomy
typicalAngularWidth about 10–20 degrees around the Galactic plane

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Norma Cluster locatedInRegionOfSky Zone of Avoidance