Beta, Local SNIa data and the Great Attractor

Abstract

We compare the measured peculiar velocities of 98 local (<150/h Mpc) type Ia supernovae (SNIa) with predictions derived from the PSCz. There is excellent agreement between the two datasets with a best fit beta_I (=Omega_m^0.6/b_I) of 0.55+-0.06. Subsets of the SNIa dataset are further analysed and the above result is found to be robust with respect to culls by distance, host-galaxy extinction and to the reference frame in which the analysis is carried out. We briefly review the peculiar motions in the direction of the Great Attractor. Most clusters in this part of the sky out to a distance of 14,000 km/s, i.e. those closer than the Shapley Concentration, have sizable positive peculiar velocities, i.e. (~ +400 km/s). There are nine local SNIa in the GA direction that are in the foreground of Shapley. All these SNIa have positive peculiar velocities. Hence both the cluster and local SNIa data strongly support the idea of a sizable flow into Shapley.