Largest Structure In Universe Discovered

[rob19]

Astronomers have discovered the largest known structure in the universe, a clump of active galactic cores that stretches 4 billion light-years from end to end.

The structure is a large quasar group (LQG), a collection of extremely luminous galactic nuclei powered by supermassive central black holes. This particular group is so large that it challenges modern cosmological theory, researchers said.

Quasars are the brightest objects in the universe. For decades, astronomers have known that they tend to assemble in huge groups, some of which are more than 600 million light-years wide.

But the record-breaking quasar group, which Clowes and his team spotted in data gathered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, is on another scale altogether. The newfound LQC is composed of 73 quasars and spans about 1.6 billion light-years in most directions, though it is 4 billion light-years across at its widest point.

To put that mind-boggling size into perspective, the disk of the Milky Way galaxy— home of Earth's solar system — is about 100,000 light-years wide. And the Milky Way is separated from its nearest galactic neighbor, Andromeda, by about 2.5 million light-years.


To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

[Wildbill3]

yeah I found a slide show that takes you from earth to the previous largest objects in the universe, to the universe itself, amazing and makes me feel so insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

---------- Post added at 08:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:42 AM ----------


To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

[Thumper1016]

You blew my mind Bill that link is amazing.