Latest news with #SloanGreatWall
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Largest Structure in The Universe May Be 50% Larger Than We Thought
The largest known structure in the Universe may be even larger than the large we thought it was. A re-examination of the distribution of powerful space explosions suggests that the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall, a cluster of galaxies previously estimated to be 10 billion light-years long, could actually be as large as 15 billion light-years in size. That's not only mind-blowing in scale, but poses a huge challenge to our understanding of the Universe. The findings have been submitted for publication, and can be read on the preprint server arXiv. The Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall (or Great Wall, for short) was discovered more than a decade ago, when astronomers noticed that gamma-ray bursts were happening in a concentration that was higher than the expected distribution. Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful explosions in the Universe, produced during extreme events such as the core-collapse supernova birth of a black hole and the collision of two neutron stars. Since black holes and neutron stars both form from massive stars, gamma-ray bursts are associated with the populations of massive stars that are usually found in galaxies. Because they are so bright, gamma-ray bursts can be observed across enormous distances, and their concentrations can be used as a proxy to map galaxy clusters. The study of 283 gamma-ray bursts is what led astronomers István Horváth, Jon Hakkila, and Zsolt Bagoly to report the discovery of the Great Wall in 2014. Now, the three scientists have joined a larger team to conduct a more detailed study of gamma-ray bursts across the sky to try to get a more accurate sense of the scale of the Great Wall. They have closely examined 542 gamma-ray bursts with known redshifts – that is, the extent to which their light has been stretched to redder wavelengths by the expansion of the Universe, thus providing a confident measure of distance. Their results showed that the Great Wall may extend from a redshift of 0.33 to a redshift of 2.43 – a total distance of around 15 billion light-years (the observable Universe is around 93 billion light-years across). It's a finding that makes the problem posed by the Great Wall even more pronounced. This is because our standard model of the evolution of the Universe is founded on something called the cosmological principle. This states that, on large enough scales, the Universe is homogeneous, or 'smooth', in all directions. Each section of the Universe should look more or less like every other section of the Universe, with no major inconsistencies or bumps. This has been confirmed by multiple lines of evidence. A structure larger than around 1.2 billion light-years would be considered a major inconsistency, and we've found quite a few of those. A super-structure called Quipu measures about 1.3 billion light-years wide, while the Sloan Great Wall spans around 1.37 billion light-years. The discovery of a similar structure called the South Pole Wall, also around 1.37 billion light-years across, was announced in 2020. The Clowes-Campusano LQG group of galaxies is 2 billion light-years across, the Giant Arc is around 3.3 billion light-years across, and the Huge Large Quasar Group is 4 billion. Then there's the Great Wall, which at 10 billion light-years across, was already an extreme outlier. The new results have upped the ante. Previously, the Great Wall's entire existence was debated. The new results show that evidence of the structure is not a statistical fluctuation or a sampling bias. It appears to be very much real. What the data means beyond that – what the structure tells us about the Universe and its evolution – has not yet been explored. However, what we do know is that there's a whole lot about the Universe that we don't know, and that we can't really make sense of yet. Somewhere out there, the answers are waiting. It's discoveries like this that are inching us ever closer to finding them. The team's findings have been submitted for publication, and are available on arXiv. First Utterly Alone Black Hole Confirmed Roaming The Cosmos Rare 'Smiley Face' Moon About to Hit The Sky With Venus And Saturn Hubble Celebrates 35 Years by Gifting Us 4 Breathtaking Cosmic Images
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists Intrigued by Galactic Structure That's 1.4 Billion Light-Years Wide
Scientists say they've uncovered the "largest known galactic structure" — a cosmic monster that spans a mind-boggling 1.4 billion light-years, which is around 14,000 times the diameter of our own Milky Way galaxy. The team, led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Physics, made the discovery after analyzing data as part of the ROSAT X-ray satellite sky survey. They found that the structure — dubbed "Quipu" after strings with knots used by the Incas for bookkeeping — stretched across huge swathes of the night sky. The team believes it's largely composed of dark matter, the invisible substance believed to account for 85 percent of all mass in the universe. The finding could have considerable implications for our understanding of the larger structures lurking in the universe and how to accurately map them. "If you look at the distribution of the galaxy clusters in the sky in a spherical shell with a distance of 416 to 826 million light-years, you immediately notice a huge structure that stretches from high northern latitudes to almost the southern end of the sky," said project lead and Max Planck Institute associate professor Hans Böhringer in a statement. Quipu's immense length appears to break the previous record set by the "Sloan Great Wall," which stretches around 1.1 billion light years in a much more distant part of the universe. But as Live Science points out, there might be even larger structures still, such as the Hercules Corona-Borealis Great Wall, a superstructure that spans an estimated 10 billion light-years across, another 10 billion light-years from Earth. Whether it indeed exists, however, remains a topic of contention among scientists. For their latest study, accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, the Max Planck team analyzed an expansive catalogue of galaxy clusters, which was created using data collected by the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics' ROSAT X-ray satellite in 1990. Apart from Quipu, the team also discovered three other superstructures they're calling the Serpens-Corona Borealis, the Hercules, and the Sculptor-Pegasus. In addition to Quipu and the Shapley supercluster, a concentration of galaxies in our nearby universe, the five structures contain an estimated 25 percent of all the matter in the observable universe, according to the researchers, or 13 percent of its volume. The team argued in its paper that the findings could be "important for astrophysical research," such as the "study of the environmental dependence of galaxy evolution as well as for precision tests of cosmological models." The researchers also suggest these superstructures won't stick around forever. "In the future cosmic evolution, these superstructures are bound to break up into several collapsing units," they concluded in their paper. "They are thus transient configurations. But at present they are special physical entities with characteristic properties and special cosmic environments deserving special attention." More on superstructures: Scientists Working to Explain "Superstructures" on Ocean Floor
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Astronomers discover largest superstructure in cosmos
A team of international astronomers has identified what is believed to be the largest known superstructure in the cosmos, a discovery that could reshape our understanding of outer space. According to the scientists on the team, the discovery was made by ROAST, a German-operated satellite telescope, and the superstructure has been named "Quipu." Quipu is estimated to span an astonishing 1.4 billion light-years in width and contains approximately 68 galaxy clusters. "If you look at the distribution of the galaxy clusters in the sky within a spherical shell, ranging from 416 to 826 million light-years, you immediately notice a massive structure that stretches from high northern latitudes to nearly the southern end of the sky," Hans Böhringer, the project leader, explained in a statement. This discovery surpasses the size of the Sloan Great Wall, a galaxy cluster that measured around 1.1 billion light-years in length and was discovered in 2003. Future Of Nasa's Mega Moon Rocket Appears In Doubt Following Major Boeing Announcement Scientists noted that the newly discovered structure resembles an ancient script, with long fiber strands woven throughout. This visual similarity led to its name "Quipu," which is derived from the Incan word for knot. The scientists also chose the name due to the European Southern Observatory in Chile playing a role in the discovery, which is near the former home of the Inca Empire. By detecting radiation emitted by the galaxy clusters, scientists were able to confirm the presence of at least four other superstructures nearby. These structures are thought to account for 45% of galaxy clusters, 30% of galaxies and 25% of the matter in the universe. "For a precise determination of cosmological parameters, we need to understand the effects of the local large-scale structure of the universe on the measurements," researchers stated. Space Debris Lights Up Night Sky Across Midwest The superstructures are believed to be vast enough to distort the light from distant objects, but scientists warn they won't last indefinitely and will eventually break apart as part of their natural evolution. The discovery is seen as a significant step forward in mapping out the multiverse but likely won't be the last time that a superstructure is article source: Astronomers discover largest superstructure in cosmos
