A group of scientists has discovered a vast structure in space that seems to challenge our understanding of the universe.
A huge ring of galaxies called the Great Ring, spanning 1.3 billion light-years, has properties similar to the so-called “Giant Arc” that was discovered in 2021. Both galaxies are located in the same region of the sky and are believed to be both too large to exist.
The size of these two galaxies seems to contradict a fundamental assumption about the universe known as the “cosmological principle”. According to this theory, the whole universe should be homogeneous when observed on a large scale, without significant irregularities.
(Stellarium)
However, according to astronomers, giant structures violate these principles due to their enormous size. They are even so large, with such strange features, that they should not even exist. Furthermore, not a single galaxy can be easily explained based on current scientific models of the universe.
Both structures were discovered by Alexia López, a student at the University of Central Lancashire in England. He emphasized the importance of this finding: “The cosmological principle assumes that the part of the universe that we can see is considered a ‘representative sample’ of what we expect the rest of the universe to be. It is assumed that if we were to analyze the universe on a large scale, matter would be evenly distributed throughout space. Therefore, it should not be possible to detect inconsistencies when analyzing large structures.”
Further, López explained: “Cosmologists have calculated that the current theoretical limit for 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 part of the universe that can be seen. But what fascinates us is that there are two huge structures and they are even located next to each other in space.”
Astronomers believe that new theories would need to be developed to reconcile the structures with the current paradigms we accept to understand the rest of the universe. One of them could be “cosmic strings”. They are huge filaments formed in the early universe that may have left traces on irregular parts of the universe.
Translation Anna McDonnell
