Space & Astronomy

Astronomers perplexed by huge ring of galaxies in deep space

By T.K. Randall
January 13, 2024

Image: Milky Way Galaxy Seen From Amphu Laptsa Base Camp
Credit: Pravin Mishra / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) Measuring a whopping 1.3 billion light-years in diameter, this immense structure - named the Big Ring - is so large that it appears 15 times the size of the Moon when viewed from the Earth's surface (though it is not actually visible with the naked eye).

Identified by Alexia Lopez - a PhD student at the University of Central Lancashire - the ring is unlike anything ever seen before and challenges our current understanding of the universe.

In other words - something like this shouldn't actually exist because it violates what is known as the cosmological principle which concerns the distribution of matter throughout the cosmos.

"This is the seventh large structure discovered in the universe that contradicts the idea that the cosmos is smooth on the largest scales," said Dr Robert Massey, deputy director of the Royal Astronomical Society."If these structures are real, then it's definitely food for thought for cosmologists and the accepted thinking on how the universe has evolved over time."

In addition to the Big Ring, Lopez also discovered a second structure - the Giant Arc - which spans some 3.3 billion light-years of space.

"It's really surreal," she said. "I do have to pinch myself, because I made these discoveries accidentally, they were serendipitous discoveries."

"Neither of these two ultra-large structures is easy to explain in our current understanding of the universe. And their ultra-large sizes, distinctive shapes, and cosmological proximity must surely be telling us something important - but what exactly?"

Source: BBC News

Tags: Galaxy