Scientists discover gigantic galaxy structure that challenges all theories about the universe – Enséñame de Ciencia

Image credits: Freepik

The universe holds a great number of mysteries that have not yet been fully discovered and may never be, but the truth is that those that have been revealed have left much of the scientific community that is a part of them in awe or disillusionment. discoveries. And with technology advancing faster and faster, it is possible that it will be possible to reveal more and more of those interesting structures that the universe has, such as the case of the oldest black hole that was recently discovered, or a structure that challenged every explanation. which could be given to every theory of the universe that exists.

Located 9.2 billion light-years from Earth, this ring-like structure is a colossal 1.3 billion light-years wide and 4 billion light-years in circumference. If this object were closer to our planet, it could be seen with the naked eye at 15 times the size of the full Moon. That’s how huge the size of this space object is.

This object was identified thanks to the fact that astronomers used statistical algorithms to locate possible large-scale structures that appeared “The Big Ring”, as he was known. It owes its name to the almost perfect circular shape it presents, although it is actually a spiral that is oriented towards the Earth.

As incredible as it may seem, this is not the first giant structure to be placed in space. In 2021, a colossal structure was discovered, 3.3 billion light-years long and called “Giant Arch in the Sky”. The person responsible for both finds was Alexia López, a student at the University of Lancashire in England. However, the immense size of both objects challenges existing knowledge of the Universe, except that they are so large they should not exist, in line with the theory of the Cosmological Principle, which suggests that what we can see is considered a representative sample of what we expect from the rest of the universe, so it is believed that if space is analyzed on a large scale, matter should be distributed evenly throughout space, so no irregularities should be detected in the analysis. large structures.

Alexia López, discoverer of both structures, explains: “Cosmologists have calculated that the current theoretical limit on the size of structures is 1.2 billion light years. However, both newly discovered structures are much larger. The Giant Arch is almost three times larger, and the circumference of the Great Ring is comparable to the length of the Giant Arch. Based on current cosmological theories, we believed that structures of this size were not possible. We might expect to detect only one extremely large structure in the entire visible part of the universe, so we find it fascinating that two huge structures exist and even exist side by side in the cosmos.

Both structures appear to be located in the same space because they can be observed at the same distance from Earth and at the same time period in the history of the universe, since their distance in the night sky is only 12 degrees. The Great Ring was located near the constellation Bootes.

Image credit: University of Central Lancashire | Stellatium

These types of colossal structures challenge any notion of what an “average” region of the universe should look like, so the combination of these structures raises the possibility that the two form an even more extraordinary cosmological system.

“This data we see is so far away that it took half the lifetime of the universe to reach us, from when the universe was about 1.8 times smaller than it is now. “The Great Ring and the Giant Arc, individually and together, provide us with a cosmological mystery as we work to understand the universe and its evolution,” Lopez concluded.