They discover a ring of galaxies that surprises astronomers

Data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) astronomical survey revealed a ring of galaxies 4,000 light-years long and 1,300 in diameter that challenges the basic assumptions of cosmology.

The Great Celestial Ring is 9.2 billion light-years away from Earth. If we could go out and see it directly, the diameter of the Great Ring would need about 15 full moons to cover it.

It is the second ultra-large structure discovered by University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) PhD student Alexia Lopez, who also discovered the Giant Arch in the Sky two years ago. Remarkably, the Great Ring and the Giant Arc, which are 3.3 billion light-years across, are in the same cosmological neighborhood: they are seen at the same distance, in the same cosmic time, and are separated by only 12 degrees in space. My sweatheart.

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

One possibility is that the Great Ring is related to Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs). BAOs arise from oscillations in the early universe and should appear today, at least statistically, as spherical shells in the arrangement of galaxies. However, “A detailed analysis of the Great Ring revealed that it is not actually compatible with the BAO explanation: The Great Ring is too large and not spherical.” explains López, who presented his findings at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

Other explanations may be necessary, explanations that deviate from what is generally considered the standard understanding in cosmology. One possibility could be another theory, conformal cyclic cosmology (CCC), proposed by Nobel laureate Sir Roger Penrose. The rings in space could be a sign of the CCC.

Another explanation could be the effect of the passage of cosmic strings. Cosmic strings are large filamentary “topological defects” that may have formed in the early universe. Another Nobel laureate, Jim Peebles, recently hypothesized that cosmic strings may play a role in the origin of some other peculiarities in the large-scale distribution of galaxies.

Furthermore, the Great Ring defies the cosmological principle, just as the Giant Bow did before it. And if the Great Ring and the Giant Arch together form an even greater structure, then the appeal to the Cosmological Principle becomes even more compelling.

Structures this large (and there are others found by other cosmologists) challenge our idea of ​​what the “average” region of the universe looks like. They exceed the size limit of what is considered theoretically viable and pose potential challenges to the Cosmological Principle.

“The cosmological principle,” López explains in his statement, “presupposes that the part of the universe that we can see is considered a ‘faithful sample’ of what we expect the rest of the universe to be like. We expect matter to be evenly distributed in space when we look at the universe on a large scale, so there should be no noticeable irregularities above a certain size.

“Cosmologists have calculated that the current theoretical limit on the size of structures is 1.2 billion light years.” but both structures are much larger: the Giant’s Arch is almost three times larger, and the circumference of the Great Ring is comparable to the length of the Giant’s Arch.

“According to current cosmological theories, we didn’t think structures of this scale were possible. Perhaps we might expect extremely large structure throughout our observable universe.. However, the Great Ring and the Giant Arch are two huge structures and even cosmological neighbors, which is extremely fascinating.”

The Great Ring appears to be an almost perfect ring in the sky, but Lopez’s closer analysis reveals that it is more of a spiral, corkscrew-like shape that is oriented toward Earth. The giant arc, which is approximately 1/15 the radius of the observable universe, It appears as a huge, almost symmetrical crescent of galaxies in the distant universe.

“The Great Ring and the Giant Arc are equidistant from us, near the constellation Boötes the Shepherd, which means that existed in the same cosmic age when the universe was only half its current age” remarked the astronomer. They are also in the same area of ​​the sky, just 12 degrees apart when looking at the night sky.

“The identification of two extraordinary ultralarge structures in such a tight configuration raises the possibility that together they form an even more extraordinary cosmological system. This data we see is so far away that it took us half the lifetime of the universe to reach us, that is, from a time when the universe was approximately 1.8 times smaller than it is now. The great ring and the giant bow, singly and together, they provide us with great cosmological mysteries as we work to understand them“, he concluded.

*With information from Europa Press