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M. J. West (University of Hawaii)
One of the most striking features of the large-scale distribution of galaxies is its filamentary appearance, with long, quasi-linear arrangements of galaxies extending over tens of megaparsecs. In this talk I will give an overview of observational evidence which suggests that the formation of galaxies and galaxy clusters has been strongly influenced by the filamentary distribution of matter on supercluster scales. In particular, I will show how elliptical galaxies in the nearby universe exhibit a remarkably strong tendency to be aligned with their large-scale environs.
This work has been supported by NSF grant AST 00-71149.