Scientists have found a galactic neighborhood in which the Milky Way lies, meaning it is no longer acceptable to say Earth's galaxy is simply somewhere in the universe.

According to the Guardian, authors of a study published in the journal Nature have identified the Laniakea neighborhood as a supercluster of galaxies. Laniakea houses 100,000 large galaxies and stretches approximately 520 million light years in the universe.

The researchers determined the Milky Way galaxy is nearer to the edge of the Laniakea supercluster and has the appearance of being coaxed back toward the middle. Using a number of telescopes, the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) chiefly among them, the researchers spotted Laniakea, which is Hawaiian for "immense heaven."

"We have finally established the contours that define the supercluster of galaxies we can call home," study lead researcher R. Brent Tully, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said in a press release. "This is not unlike finding out for the first time that your hometown is actually part of much larger country that borders other nations.

"Green Bank Telescope observations have played a significant role in the research leading to this new understanding of the limits and relationships among a number of superclusters."

Tully and his team used the radio telescopes to gauge the tempo of other galaxies in the Milky Way's general surroundings.

"When you look at it in three dimensions, is looks like a sphere that's been badly beaten up and we are over near the edge, being pulled towards the center," Tully told the Guardian. "But our whole supercluster is being pulled in the direction of this other supercluster, Shapley, though it remains to be seen if that's all that's going on."