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Astronomers have discovered the largest structure identified so far in the universe, a group of galaxies spanning a distance of 4 billion light years from end to end.
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The structure is "large group of quasars" ( large quasar group - LQG), a collection of extremely bright galactic nuclei fueled by supermassive black holes. This group is so large that it could lead to a change of modern cosmological theories, the researchers say.
"Despite the immensity of the LQC is difficult to perceive, we can safely say that is the biggest structure ever found in the universe," said Roger Clowes, from the University of Central Lancashire ."The discovery is exciting because it contradicts what we understand so far about the size of the universe," said Clowes.
Quasars are the brightest objects in the universe. Astronomers know for decades that quasars tend to form huge groups, and measuring some 600 million light-years wide.
Group quasars discovered by the team led by Clowes is beyond anything we could imagine. The group consists of 73 quasars and spans 1.6 billion light years in all directions, and at the widest point spans a distance of 4 billion light years.
To understand the extraordinary size of this group of quasars can be compared with the Milky Way galaxy, the solar system is part of the Earth. Milky Way measures 100,000 light years in width and distance from the nearest Milky Way galaxy, Andromeda, is 2.5 million light years.
Discovered group of scientists is so great, in fact, that current theories predict that something should not exist. Group quasars appears to violate a theory accepted by most astronomers, which is known as the "cosmological principle". According to this principle, the universe is essentially homogeneous when viewed on a scale large enough. For this reason, the calculations suggest that structures should not be larger than 1.2 billion light years.
"Our team has found other similar cases, providing further evidence for this theory change. We will continue to investigate this fascinating phenomenon, "said Clowes.
The study was published in this week's edition of the scientific journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society .
Source: Space , arXiv , Descopera.ro
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