Astronomers have identified what could be the largest structure ever discovered in the known universe, named “Quipu”, a massive cosmic formation stretching about 1.3 billion light-years and containing an estimated 200 quadrillion solar masses. The structure is named after the ancient Incan knot-based counting system, reflecting its long central filament with multiple branching filaments, resembling a cosmic network.
About the Study
The discovery comes from a research study titled “Unveiling the Largest Structures in the Nearby Universe: Discovery of the Quipu Superstructure”, led by Hans Bohringer of the Max Planck Institute.
- The study is part of ongoing efforts to map the distribution of matter in the universe using different wavelengths of light.
- It focuses on objects with redshift values between 0.3 and 0.6, representing more distant regions of the universe compared to earlier studies (which focused up to 0.3).
- Redshift: It refers to the phenomenon where light shifts toward the red end of the spectrum as objects move farther away, helping scientists estimate cosmic distances.
- Superstructures / Superclusters: These are largest known groupings of galaxies, forming nodes in the cosmic web.
- Cosmic Web is a large-scale structure of the universe made of filaments, clusters, and voids shaped by gravity.
Key Findings
- Scale and Size: Quipu spans 1.3 billion light-years, making it about 13,000 times longer than the Milky Way, and potentially the longest known structure in the universe.
- Visibility: Unlike many cosmic structures, Quipu is visibly identifiable in sky maps of galaxy clusters within the studied redshift range, even without advanced detection algorithms.
- Distance Range: The structures identified in the study lie between 425 million and 815 million light-years from Earth.
- Comparison with Other Structures:
- It surpasses structures like the Laniakea Supercluster in size.
- The previously proposed largest structure, the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall (≈10 billion light-years wide), remains disputed.
Other Superstructures Identified
Along with Quipu, researchers identified four additional massive superstructures:
- Shapley Supercluster
- Serpens-Corona Borealis Superstructure
- Hercules Supercluster
- Sculptor-Pegasus Superstructure
Together, these five superstructures account for:
- 45% of galaxy clusters
- 30% of galaxies
- 25% of total matter in the universe
- Cover approximately 13% of the universe’s volume
Scientific Significance
These massive structures play a critical role in shaping the universe:
- Gravitational Influence: Their immense gravity causes gravitational lensing, bending light from distant objects.
- Impact on Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB): They influence the Cosmic Microwave Background, affecting observations of the early universe.
- Effect on Universe Expansion: These structures can alter measurements of the Hubble Constant, which determines how fast the universe is expanding.
- Cosmic Web Understanding: The discovery contributes to mapping the large-scale cosmic web, improving understanding of how galaxies evolve and cluster over billions of years.