List of largest cosmic structures
This is a list of the largest cosmic structures so far discovered. The unit of measurement used is the light year (distanced traveled by light in one Julian year; approximately 9.46 trillion kilometres).
This list includes superclusters, galaxy filaments and large quasar groups (LQG's). The list characterizes each structure based on its longest dimension.
Note that this list refers only to coupling of matter with defined limits, and not the coupling of matter in general (as per example the cosmic microwave background, which fills the entire universe). All structures in this list are defined as to whether their presiding limits have been identified.
There are some speculations about this list:
- The Zone of Avoidance, or the part of the sky in which the Milky Way is occupied, blocks out light to several structures, making its limits imprecisely identified.
- Some structures are far too distant to be seen even with the most powerful telescopes. Some factors are included to explain the structure (like gravitational lensing and redshift data).
- Some structures have no defined limits, or endpoints. All structures are believed to be part of the cosmic web, which is a conclusive idea. Most structures are overlapped by nearby galaxies, creating a problem of how to carefully define the structure's limit.
List of largest structures
| Structure name (year discovered) |
Maximum dimension (in light years) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall (2014)[1] | 10,000,000,000[2][3][4] | Discovered through gamma-ray burst mapping, and is the first structure to exceed 10 billion light years. |
| Giant GRB Ring (2015)[5] | 5,600,000,000[6] | Discovered through gamma-ray burst mapping. Largest known regular formation in the observable Universe.[6] |
| Huge-LQG (2012-2013) | 4,000,000,000[7][8][9] | Decoupling of 73 quasars. Largest known large quasar group and the first structure found to exceed 3 billion light years. |
| U1.11 LQG (2011) | 2,500,000,000 | Involves 38 quasars. Adjacent to the Clowes-Campusano LQG. |
| Clowes-Campusano LQG (1991) | 2,000,000,000 | Grouping of 34 quasars. Discovered by Roger Clowes and Luis Campusano. |
| Sloan Great Wall (2003) | 1,370,000,000 | Discovered through the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. |
| (Theoretical limit) | 1,200,000,000 | Structures larger than this size are incompatible with the cosmological principle according to all estimates |
| BOSS Great Wall (BGW) (2016) | 1,000,000,000 | Structure consisting of 4 superclusters of galaxies. The mass and volume exceeds the amount of Sloan Great Wall.[10] |
| Pisces-Cetus Supercluster Complex (1987) | 1,000,000,000 | Contains the Milky Way, and is the first galaxy filament to be discovered. (The first LQG was found earlier in 1982.) A new report in 2014 confirms the Milky Way as a member of Laniakea Supercluster. |
| EH9 6632 | 1,000,000,000 | The largest Known Supercluster. |
| Caelum Supercluster | 910,000,000 | |
| Ophiuchus Supercluster | 858,000,000 | |
| CfA2 Great Wall (1989) | 750,000,000 | Also known as the Coma Wall |
| Horologium Supercluster (2005) | 550,000,000 | Also known as Horologium-Reticulum Supercluster. |
| Laniakea Supercluster (2014) | 520,000,000 | Galaxy supercluster in which the Earth is located |
| Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 11 | 500,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12] |
| Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 12 | 480,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12] |
| Newman LQG (U1.54) | 450,000,000 | |
| Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 5 | 430,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12] |
| Tesch–Engels LQG | 420,000,000 | |
| The Great Attractor | 400,000,000 | |
| Shapley Supercluster | 400,000,000 | First identified by Harlow Shapley as a cloud of galaxies in 1930, it was not identified as a structure until 1989. |
| Komberg–Kravstov–Lukash LQG 3 | 390,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12] |
| U1.90 | 380,000,000 | |
| Lynx–Ursa Major Filament (LUM Filament) | 370,000,000 | |
| Sculptor Wall | 370,000,000 | Also known as Southern Great Wall |
| Pisces-Cetus Supercluster | 350,000,000 | |
| Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 2 | 350,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12] |
| z=2.38 filament around protocluster ClG J2143-4423 | 330,000,000 | |
| Webster LQG | 320,000,000 | First LQG (Large Quasar Group) discovered[12][13] |
| Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 8 | 310,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12] |
| Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 1 | 280,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12] |
| Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 6 | 260,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12] |
| Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 7 | 250,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12] |
| SCL @ 1338+27 | 228,314,341 | |
| Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 9 | 200,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12] |
| MOF 3501 | 200,000,000 | |
| Newfound Blob | 200,000,000 | A giant collection of Lyman-alpha blobs |
| Ursa Major Supercluster | 200,000,000 | |
| Komberg-Kravtsov-Lukash LQG 10 | 180,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12] |
List of largest voids
Voids are immense spaces between galaxy filaments and other large-scale structures. Technically they are not structures. They are vast spaces which contain very few, or no galaxies. They are theorized to be caused by quantum fluctuations during the early formation of the universe.
A list of the largest voids so far discovered is below. Each is ranked according to its longest dimension.
| Void name/designation | Maximum dimension (in light years) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Giant Void | 1,300,000,000 | Also called as Canes Venatici Supervoid |
| Tully-11 void | 880,000,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
| Tully-10 void | 792,000,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
| Tully-9 void | 746,000,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
| B&B Abell-20 void | 684,000,000 | |
| B&B Abell-9 void | 652,000,000 | |
| Tully-7 void | 567,240,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
| Tully-4 void | 564,000,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
| Tully-6 void | 557,460,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
| Tully-8 void | 554,200,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
| B&B Abell-21 void | 521,600,000 | |
| B&B Abell-28 void | 521,600,000 | |
| Eridanus Supervoid | 489,000,000 (most likely value) |
A recent analysis of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) in 2007 has found an irregularity of the temperature fluctuation of the cosmic microwave background within the vicinity of the constellation Eridanus with analysis found to be 70 microkelvins cooler than the average CMB temperature. One speculation is that a void could cause the cold spot, with the possible size on the left. However, it may be as large as 1 billion light years, close to the size of the Giant Void. |
| B&B Abell-4 void | 489,000,000 | |
| B&B Abell-15 void | 489,000,000 | |
| Tully-3 void | 489,000,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
| 1994EEDTAWSS-10 void | 469,440,000 | |
| Tully-1 void | 456,400,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
| B&B Abell-8 void | 456,000,000 | |
| B&B Abell-22 void | 456,000,000 | |
| Tully-2 void | 443,360,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
| B&B Abell-24 void | 423,800,000 | |
| B&B Abell-27 void | 423,800,000 | |
| B&B Abell-7 void | 391,200,000 | |
| B&B Abell-12 void | 391,200,000 | |
| B&B Abell-29 void | 391,200,000 | |
| 1994EEDTAWSS-21 void | 378,160,000 | |
| Southern Local Supervoid | 365,120,000 | |
| B&B Abell-10 void | 358,600,000 | |
| B&B Abell-11 void | 358,600,000 | |
| B&B Abell-13 void | 358,600,000 | |
| B&B Abell-17 void | 358,600,000 | |
| B&B Abell-19 void | 358,600,000 | |
| B&B Abell-23 void | 358,600,000 | |
| 1994EEDTAWSS-19 void | 342,100,000 | |
| 1994EEDTAWSS-12 void | 328,000,000 |
See also
References
- ^ Horvath, Istvan; Bagoly, Zsolt; Hakkila, Jon; Tóth, L. Viktor. "Anomalies in the GRB spatial distribution". Proceedings of Science. arXiv:1507.05528.
- ^ Horvath, Istvan; Hakkila, Jon; Bagoly, Zsolt (2014). "Possible structure in the GRB sky distribution at redshift two". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 561: id.L12. arXiv:1401.0533. Bibcode:2014A&A...561L..12H. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201323020. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
- ^ Horvath, I.; Hakkila, J.; Bagoly, Z. (2013). "The largest structure of the Universe, defined by Gamma-Ray Bursts". 7th Huntsville Gamma-Ray Burst Symposium, GRB 2013: paper 33 in eConf Proceedings C1304143. 1311: 1104. arXiv:1311.1104. Bibcode:2013arXiv1311.1104H.
- ^ Klotz, Irene (2013-11-19). "Universe's Largest Structure is a Cosmic Conundrum". discovery. Retrieved 2013-11-22.
- ^ Balazs, L.G.; Bagoly, Z.; Hakkila, J.E.; Horvath, I.; Kobori, J.; Racz, I.I.; Toth, L.V. (2015-08-05). "A giant ring-like structure at 0.78 < z < 0.86 displayed by GRBs". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 452 (3): 2236–2246. arXiv:1507.00675. Bibcode:2015MNRAS.452.2236B. doi:10.1093/mnras/stv1421. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ a b Balazs, L.G.; Bagoly, Z.; Hakkila, J.E.; Horvath, I.; Kobori, J.; Racz, I.; Toth, L.V. "A giant ring-like structure at 0.78<z<0.86 displayed by GRBs". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 452: 2236–2246. arXiv:1507.00675. Bibcode:2015MNRAS.452.2236B. doi:10.1093/mnras/stv1421.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ Aron, Jacob. "Largest structure challenges Einstein's smooth cosmos". New Scientist. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
- ^ "Astronomers discover the largest structure in the universe". Royal astronomical society. Retrieved 2013-01-13.
- ^ Clowes, Roger; Harris, Kathryn A.; Raghunathan, Srinivasan; Campusano, Luis E.; Söchting, Ilona K.; Graham, Matthew J. (2013-01-11). "A structure in the early Universe at z ∼ 1.3 that exceeds the homogeneity scale of the R-W concordance cosmology". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 1211 (4): 6256. arXiv:1211.6256. Bibcode:2013MNRAS.429.2910C. doi:10.1093/mnras/sts497. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ H.Lietzen; E.Tempel; L. J.Liivamägi (20 March 2016). "Discovery of a massive supercluster system at z ~ 0.47". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 588: L4. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201628261.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Komberg, Boris V.; Kravtsov, Andrey V.; Lukash, Vladimir N. "The search and investigation of the Large Groups of Quasars": 2090. arXiv:astro-ph/9602090. Bibcode:1996astro.ph..2090K.
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- ^ Webster, Adrian (May 1982). "The clustering of quasars from an objective-prism survey". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 199: 683–705. Bibcode:1982MNRAS.199..683W. doi:10.1093/mnras/199.3.683.
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