Largest structure in universe discovered

Astronomers have spotted the largest structure ever seen in space. The object so massive that, in the words of one scientist, it will change astronomy's "current understanding of the scale of the universe."

The structure is a large quasar group, a collection of gigantic galactic cores held together by a supermassive black hole. The group, or LQG, stretches 4 billion light-years across.

"While it is difficult to fathom the scale of this LQG, we can say quite definitely it is the largest structure ever seen in the entire universe," Roger Clowes, lead author of the study and a professor at the University of Central Lancashire in the U.K., said in a statement. "This is hugely exciting, not least because it runs counter to our current understanding of the scale of the universe."

Indeed, it is hard to wrap one's head around the sheer scale of the LQC. For comparison, our galaxy - the Milky Way - measures roughly 100,000 light-years wide. The nearest galaxy to our own, the Andromeda galaxy, is 2.5 million light-years away - less than one-thousandth of the width of the LQG.

Dr. Clowers and his team observed the gigantic structure via data gathered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The discovery of the LQG runs counter to the prevailing theory that such massive objects should not exist. It would seem to violate the cosmological principle, the idea that the universe is more or less the same no matter when you are.

But the discovery of the massive LQG may call for a recalibrating of that theory.

"Our team has been looking at similar cases which add further weight to this challenge," Clowes said. "And we will be continuing to investigate these fascinating phenomena."

The study was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

[beyondEinstein]

From the time of the very auspicious inception of the civilization, mankind is continuing to find out the correct answer to the question about universe creation or creator. Aborigines have taking up the considerations of the causes by religious thoughts in different ways as consolations as there was no practical answer or solutions to the questions. Pensive it mentioned the little serving as an example of my research results and see Interesting facts about the Universe, as I see it- New Discovery of the Universe. See into- at http://shahidurrahmansikder.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/

[David_Tampa]

4 BILLION LY across.....hmmmm there is something to physics that we do NOT understand I think.

[anotherversionofyou]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x-DoWE0bnY

[FormerUSMCSergeant]

But the discovery of the massive LQG may call for a recalibrating of that theory
---
One of the attributes of science.
Always examining, scrutinizing, exploring, validating, calibrating....unlike religion that's locked into thinking 2,000 years old.

[Twilligon]

True religion, just like true science, is based on testable hypotheses. The difference between the scientist and the believer, if any, lies only in which hypotheses they choose to test.

[cbs_bull]

How many light years is the LQG away from Earth?

[Muad23]

I found a value of 8.7 billion light years, but I think that's the light travel time. Since space expands, you need to add a bit to that, so maybe something between ten and twelve billion light years total. Take that with a grain of salt though, I'm no astronomer.

[mrjustice1]

Both Democrats and Republicans, and maybe even lawyers, will become "honest by purge", when they along with their fraudulent attitudes are properly black-holed.

Afterwards, lying, cheating and stealing will be supplanted by the disciplinary system provided by ...
Let's just say:
"Any black hole will do the trick."

[Muad23]

That is so extremely boring. This article is about astrophysics. Whatever the value of your (anti-)political opinions, this is not the place for them.
Compared to the vast scale of the subject at hand, your politics, your country, and this entire planet are less significant than the shadow of a doughnut eaten six weeks ago.

[dpmol2]

Found this article useful in understanding galactic cores:

http://www.armaghplanet.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-milky-way.html

I'm amazed at how many wasteful comments there are on this article...too much time on your hands people?

[Alex_Greene_BSc]

That certainly stirs up and challenges a lot of assumptions. But then, that is what makes science so exciting - the distinct possibility that evidence can come along that not only shakes the tree; it almost blows it over.

This discovery should prompt cries from astrophysicists and cosmologists the world over along the lines of "We'll all have to go back to the drawing board - and I could not be happier!"

I mean, if the Cosmological Principle is about to be shaken to its roots, that leaves the field wide open for a whole new generation of geniuses to start hypothesising about the nature of the Universe - and be in on the ground floor on thoughts and hypotheses surpassing those of Hubble and Feynman. A whole slew of names could emerge in the wake of this discovery to be hailed and lauded as this century's Carl Sagans and Stephen Hawkings.

If that doesn't fill some of the readers here with a bone-deep thrill of eager anticipation, I don't know what will.

[timseanc]

Hate to burst your bubble about Sagan, but he was mostly successful at self promotion. He is not considered by those in the astronomy or physics communities as having done any ground-breaking work. Certainly not in the same category as Hawking.

[gbgentleman]

I agree Timseanc that Sagan wasn't a true ground-breaker, but what he did was introduce the Cosmos (pun intended) to the young. If you quiz many of the astronomers and physicists around today about who influenced their career choice, Sagan will be on a lot of the answers.

[gorgeousm]

Such discovery would squash all egos of 'genuinely free intelligence', with of course the exception of those who are victimized by immutable religious mindset.
And these religious nuts will certainly claim that their brand-named God created and formed ALL structures, galaxies, constellations, solar systems, planets, lifeforms, etc, some of which have halal and kosher flying piglets.

[tmn]

Piglets are ANYTHING but Kosher...

[CuriousServant]

I disagree. I am a hopeless devotee of all things science, yet I am a person of faith. There is room for both. Indeed, they are based on differing perspectives of the same thing.

Of course there isn't room in such a space as this to make any cogent points, certainly not enough to convince.

I just wanted to point out that while many of my scientist friends are atheists, not all.

Still, your point of squashing egos makes me smile.

[jjoe57]

So, provincial astronomers: What makes you think this bundle of galaxies is part of our universe?

[skithebumps]

It has been discovered within our universe so therefore it is a part of our universe.
We're not talking about multiverses here, we're talking about a large quasar group.

[jtran1999]

I don't believe that JJoe57's understanding of the definition of the term Universe is the one the rest of us learned in Astronomy class. There seem to be a lot of people on these boards who comments who don't actually know the meaning of the Terms they reference!

I especially like it when they say "It's only a theory!" like they have no clue that what it takes for something to be recognized as a theory! Everything that it is built upon as to be true, but have yet to be observed directly or indirectly!