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This is a list of the largest cosmic structures so far discovered. The unit of measurement used is the light-year (distance traveled by light in one Julian year; approximately 9.46 trillion kilometres).
This list includes superclusters, galaxy filaments and large quasar groups (LQGs). The structures are listed based on their longest dimension.
This list refers only to coupling of matter with defined limits, and not the coupling of matter in general (such as, for example, the cosmic microwave background, which fills the entire universe). All structures in this list are defined as to whether their presiding limits have been identified.
There are some reasons to be cautious about this list:
Structure name (year discovered) | Maximum dimension (in light-years) | Notes |
---|---|---|
Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall (2014) [1] | 9,700,000,000–10,000,000,000 [2] [3] [4] | Discovered through gamma-ray burst mapping. Existence as a structure is disputed. [5] [6] [7] |
Giant GRB Ring (2015) [8] | 5,600,000,000 [8] | Discovered through gamma-ray burst mapping. Largest-known regular formation in the observable universe. [8] |
Huge-LQG (2012–2013) | 4,000,000,000 [9] [10] [11] | Decoupling of 73 quasars. Largest-known large quasar group and the first structure found to exceed 3 billion light-years. |
"The Giant Arc" (2021) | 3,300,000,000 [12] | Located 9.2 billion light years away. |
U1.11 LQG (2011) | 2,500,000,000 | Involves 38 quasars. Adjacent to the Clowes-Campusano LQG. |
Clowes–Campusano LQG (1991) | 2,000,000,000 | Grouping of 34 quasars. Discovered by Roger Clowes and Luis Campusano. |
Sloan Great Wall (2003) | 1,380,000,000 | Discovered through the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. |
South Pole Wall (2020) | 1,370,000,000 [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] | The largest contiguous feature in the local volume and comparable to the Sloan Great Wall (see above) at half the distance. It is located at the celestial South Pole. |
King Ghidorah Supercluster (2022) | 1,300,000,000 [19] | Consists of at least 15 clusters plus other interconnected filaments. It is the most massive galaxy supercluster discovered so far. [19] |
Big Ring (2024) | 1,300,000,000 | Made up of galaxy clusters. |
(Theoretical limit) | 1,200,000,000 | Structures larger than this size are incompatible with the cosmological principle according to all estimates. However, whether the existence of these structures itself constitutes a refutation of the cosmological principle is still unclear. [20] |
Ho'oleilana Bubble (2023) | 1,000,000,000 | Contains about 56,000 galaxies, located 820 million light years away. |
BOSS Great Wall (BGW) (2016) | 1,000,000,000 | Structure consisting of 4 superclusters of galaxies. The mass and volume exceeds the amount of the Sloan Great Wall. [21] |
Perseus–Pegasus Filament (1985) | 1,000,000,000 | This galaxy filament contains the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster. |
Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex (1987) | 1,000,000,000 | Contains the Milky Way, and is the first galaxy filament to be discovered. (The first LQG was found earlier in 1982.) A new report in 2014 confirms the Milky Way as a member of the Laniakea Supercluster. |
CfA2 Great Wall (1989) | 750,000,000 | Also known as the Coma Wall. |
Saraswati Supercluster | 652,000,000 [22] | The Saraswati Supercluster consists of 43 massive galaxy clusters, which include Abell 2361 and ZWCl 2341.1+0000. |
Boötes Supercluster | 620,000,000 | |
Horologium-Reticulum Supercluster (2005) | 550,000,000 | Also known as the Horologium Supercluster. |
Laniakea Supercluster (2014) | 520,000,000 | Galaxy supercluster in which Earth is located. |
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 11 | 500,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash. [23] [24] |
Hyperion proto-supercluster (2018) | 489,000,000 | The largest and earliest known proto– supercluster. |
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 12 | 480,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash. [23] [24] |
Newman LQG (U1.54) | 450,000,000 | Discovered Peter R Newman [25] et al. |
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 5 | 430,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash. [23] [24] |
Tesch–Engels LQG | 420,000,000 | |
Shapley Supercluster | 400,000,000 | First identified by Harlow Shapley as a cloud of galaxies in 1930, it was not identified as a structure until 1989. |
Komberg–Kravstov–Lukash LQG 3 | 390,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash. [23] [24] |
U1.90 | 380,000,000 | |
Lynx–Ursa Major Filament (LUM Filament) | 370,000,000 | |
Sculptor Wall | 370,000,000 | Also known as the Southern Great Wall. |
Einasto Supercluster | 360,000,000 | [26] |
Pisces-Cetus Supercluster | 350,000,000 | |
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 2 | 350,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash. [23] [24] |
z=2.38 filament around protocluster ClG J2143-4423 | 330,000,000 | |
Webster LQG | 320,000,000 | First LQG (Large Quasar Group) discovered. [24] [27] |
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 8 | 310,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash. [23] [24] |
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 1 | 280,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash. [23] [24] |
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 6 | 260,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash. [23] [24] |
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 7 | 250,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash. [23] [24] |
SCL @ 1338+27 | 228,314,341 | One of the most distant known superclusters. |
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 9 | 200,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash. [23] [24] |
SSA22 Protocluster | 200,000,000 | Giant collection of Lyman-alpha blobs. |
Ursa Major Supercluster | 200,000,000 | |
Komberg-Kravtsov-Lukash LQG 10 | 180,000,000 | Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash. [23] [24] |
Virgo Supercluster | 110,000,000 | A part of the Laniakea Supercluster (see above). It also contains the Milky Way Galaxy, which contains the Solar System where Earth orbits the Sun. Listed here for reference. |
Voids are immense spaces between galaxy filaments and other large-scale structures. Technically they are not structures. They are vast spaces which contain very few or no galaxies. They are theorized to be caused by quantum fluctuations during the early formation of the universe.
A list of the largest voids so far discovered is below. Each is ranked according to its longest dimension.
Void name/designation | Maximum dimension (in light-years) | Notes |
---|---|---|
LOWZ North 13788 void | 2,953,000,000 | One of largest known voids, containing 109,066 known galaxies. [28] |
Local Hole | 2,000,000,000 | Proposed void containing the Milky Way galaxy and Local Group as an explanation for the discrepancy in the Hubble constant. Existence is still disputed. [29] [30] |
LOWZ North 4739 void | 1,846,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ North 16634 void | 1,671,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ North 11627 void | 1,663,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ South 4653 void | 1,610,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ North 13222 void | 1,515,000,000 | [28] |
Giant Void | 1,300,000,000 | Also known as Canes Venatici Supervoid |
LOWZ North 14348 void | 1,277,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ South 5589 void | 1,110,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ North 13721 void | 1,095,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ North 11918 void | 998,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ North 5692 void | 984,000,000 | [28] |
Bahcall & Soneira 1982 void | 978,000,000 | This suspected void ranged 100 degrees across the sky, and has shown up on other surveys as several separate voids. [31] |
LOWZ North 11446 void | 944,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ North 15734 void | 938,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ North 16394 void | 934,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ North 8541 void | 917,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ South 4775 void | 899,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ North 12092 void | 891,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ North 3294 void | 887,000,000 | [28] |
Tully-11 void | 880,000,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
CMASS South 7225 void | 865,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ North 14775 void | 848,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ South 6334 void | 846,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ North 10254 void | 843,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ North 13568 void | 841,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ North 11954 void | 827,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ North 3404 void | 812,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ South 3713 void | 805,000,000 | [28] |
LOWZ South 4325 void | 804,000,000 | [28] |
CMASS South 5582 void | 796,000,000 | [28] |
Tully-10 void | 792,000,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
LOWZ North 6177 void | 789,000,000 | [28] |
Tully-9 void | 746,000,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
B&B Abell-20 void | 684,000,000 | |
B&B Abell-9 void | 652,000,000 | |
Tully-7 void | 567,240,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
Tully-4 void | 564,000,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
Tully-6 void | 557,460,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
Tully-8 void | 554,200,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
B&B Abell-21 void | 521,600,000 | |
B&B Abell-28 void | 521,600,000 | |
Eridanus Supervoid | 489,000,000 (most likely value) | A recent analysis of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) in 2007 has found an irregularity of the temperature fluctuation of the cosmic microwave background within the vicinity of the constellation Eridanus with analysis found to be 70 microkelvins cooler than the average CMB temperature. One speculation is that a void could cause the cold spot, with the possible size on the left. However, it may be as large as 1 billion light-years, close to the size of the Giant Void. |
B&B Abell-4 void | 489,000,000 | |
B&B Abell-15 void | 489,000,000 | |
Tully-3 void | 489,000,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
1994EEDTAWSS-10 void | 469,440,000 | |
Tully-1 void | 456,400,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
B&B Abell-8 void | 456,000,000 | |
B&B Abell-22 void | 456,000,000 | |
Tully-2 void | 443,360,000 | Catalogued by R. Brent Tully |
B&B Abell-24 void | 423,800,000 | |
B&B Abell-27 void | 423,800,000 | |
CMASS North 4407 void | 414,000,000 | [28] |
B&B Abell-7 void | 391,200,000 | |
B&B Abell-12 void | 391,200,000 | |
B&B Abell-29 void | 391,200,000 | |
1994EEDTAWSS-21 void | 378,160,000 | |
Southern Local Supervoid | 365,120,000 | |
B&B Abell-10 void | 358,600,000 | |
B&B Abell-11 void | 358,600,000 | |
B&B Abell-13 void | 358,600,000 | |
B&B Abell-17 void | 358,600,000 | |
B&B Abell-19 void | 358,600,000 | |
B&B Abell-23 void | 358,600,000 | |
CMASS North 11496 void | 342,000,000 | [28] |
1994EEDTAWSS-19 void | 342,100,000 | |
Northern Local Supervoid | 339,000,000 | Virgo Supercluster, Coma Supercluster, Perseus–Pisces Supercluster, Ursa Major-Lynx Supercluster, Hydra–Centaurus Supercluster, Sculptor Supercluster, Pavo–Corona Australis Supercluster form a sheet between the Northern Local Supervoid and the Southern Local Supervoid. The Hercules Supercluster separates the Northern Local Void from the Boötes Void. The Perseus-Pisces Supercluster and Pegasus Supercluster form a sheet separate the Northern Local Void and Southern Local Void from the Pegasus Void. [32] |
Boötes Void | 330,000,000 | Also known as The Giant Nothing |
1994EEDTAWSS-12 void | 328,000,000 | |
CMASS North 15935 void | 252,000,000 | [28] |
SSRS1 4 void | 217,000,000 | |
GACIRASS V0 void | 215,000,000 | |
CMASS North 60 void | 210,000,000 | [28] |
SSRS2 3 void | 198,000,000 | |
Local Void | 195,000,000 | The nearest void to the Milky Way. |
SSRS2 1 void | 177,000,000 | |
IRAS 1 void | 166,000,000 | |
Sculptor void | 163,000,000 | |
IRAS 3 void | 145,000,000 | |
IRAS 2 void | 142,000,000 | |
IRAS 7 void | 141,000,000 | |
SSRS2 11 void | 139,000,000 | |
IRAS 6 void | 135,000,000 | |
IRAS 13 void | 131,000,000 | |
Pegasus Void | 130,000,000 | [33] The Perseus–Pisces Supercluster and Pegasus Supercluster form a sheet separate the Northern Local Void and Southern Local Void from the Pegasus Void. [32] |
IRAS 8 void | 128,000,000 | |
SSRS2 9 void | 127,000,000 | |
IRAS 9 void | 117,000,000 | |
IRAS 5 void | 117,000,000 | |
SSRS2 4 void | 116,000,000 | |
SSRS2 10 void | 113,000,000 | |
SSRS1 1 void | 108,000,000 | Located just behind the galaxy concentration Eridanus-Fornax-Dorado. |
IRAS 11 void | 104,000,000 | |
SSRS2 6 void | 104,000,000 | |
CMASS North 10020 void | 104,000,000 | [28] |
IRAS 12 void | 102,000,000 | |
Perseus-Pisces void | 99,000,000 | |
SSRS1 2 void | 97,000,000 | |
IRAS 14 void | 93,000,000 | |
SSRS2 8 void | 90,000,000 | |
SSRS2 15 void | 89,000,000 | |
GACIRASS V1 void | 83,000,000 | |
SSRS2 7 void | 83,000,000 | |
SSRS2 12 void | 81,000,000 | |
GACIRASS V3 void | 81,000,000 | |
SSRS2 14 void | 69,000,000 | |
SSRS2 18 void | 68,000,000 | |
SSRS2 16 void | 66,000,000 | |
GACIRASS V2 void | 63,000,000 | |
SSRS2 17 void | 61,000,000 |
In physical cosmology, the Copernican principle states that humans are not privileged observers of the universe, that observations from the Earth are representative of observations from the average position in the universe. Named for Copernican heliocentrism, it is a working assumption that arises from a modified cosmological extension of Copernicus' argument of a moving Earth.
A supercluster is a large group of smaller galaxy clusters or galaxy groups; they are among the largest known structures in the universe. The Milky Way is part of the Local Group galaxy group, which in turn is part of the Virgo Supercluster, which is part of the Laniakea Supercluster, which is part of the Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex. The large size and low density of superclusters means that they, unlike clusters, expand with the Hubble expansion. The number of superclusters in the observable universe is estimated to be 10 million.
The following is a timeline of galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and large-scale structure of the universe.
The Hydra–Centaurus Supercluster, or the Hydra and Centaurus Superclusters, was a previously defined supercluster in two parts, which prior to the identification of Laniakea Supercluster in 2014 is the closest neighbour of the former Virgo Supercluster. Its center is located about 39 Mpc (127 Mly) away, with it extending to a maximum distance of around 69 Mpc (225 Mly).
The Lambda-CDM, Lambda cold dark matter, or ΛCDM model is a mathematical model of the Big Bang theory with three major components:
The Sloan Great Wall (SGW) is a cosmic structure formed by a giant wall of galaxies. Its discovery was announced from Princeton University on October 20, 2003, by J. Richard Gott III, Mario Jurić, and their colleagues, based on data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
The Pavo–Indus Supercluster is a neighboring supercluster located about 60–70 Mpc (196–228 Mly) away in the constellations of Pavo, Indus, and Telescopium. The supercluster contains three main clusters, Abell 3656, Abell 3698, and Abell 3742.
The CMB Cold Spot or WMAP Cold Spot is a region of the sky seen in microwaves that has been found to be unusually large and cold relative to the expected properties of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). The "Cold Spot" is approximately 70 μK (0.00007 K) colder than the average CMB temperature, whereas the root mean square of typical temperature variations is only 18 μK. At some points, the "cold spot" is 140 μK colder than the average CMB temperature.
In cosmology, galaxy filaments are the largest known structures in the universe, consisting of walls of galactic superclusters. These massive, thread-like formations can commonly reach 50 to 80 megaparsecs —with the largest found to date being the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall at around 3 gigaparsecs (9.8 Gly) in length—and form the boundaries between voids. Due to the accelerating expansion of the universe, the individual clusters of gravitationally bound galaxies that make up galaxy filaments are moving away from each other at an accelerated rate; in the far future they will dissolve.
In cosmology, the steady-state model or steady state theory is an alternative to the Big Bang theory. In the steady-state model, the density of matter in the expanding universe remains unchanged due to a continuous creation of matter, thus adhering to the perfect cosmological principle, a principle that says that the observable universe is always the same at any time and any place.
The Local Sheet in astronomy is a nearby extragalactic region of space where the Milky Way, the members of the Local Group and other galaxies share a similar peculiar velocity. This region lies within a radius of about 7 Mpc (23 Mly), 0.46 Mpc (1.5 Mly) thick, and galaxies beyond that distance show markedly different velocities. The Local Group has only a relatively small peculiar velocity of 66 km⋅s−1 with respect to the Local Sheet. Typical velocity dispersion of galaxies is only 40 km⋅s−1 in the radial direction. Nearly all nearby bright galaxies belong to the Local Sheet. The Local Sheet is part of the Local Volume and is in the Virgo Supercluster. The Local Sheet forms a wall of galaxies delineating one boundary of the Local Void.
A large quasar group (LQG) is a collection of quasars that form what are thought to constitute the largest astronomical structures in the observable universe. LQGs are thought to be precursors to the sheets, walls and filaments of galaxies found in the relatively nearby universe.
The Huge Large Quasar Group, is a possible structure or pseudo-structure of 73 quasars, referred to as a large quasar group, that measures about 4 billion light-years across. At its discovery, it was identified as the largest and the most massive known structure in the observable universe, though it has been superseded by the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall at 10 billion light-years. There are also issues about its structure.
The Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall (HCB) or simply the Great Wall is a galaxy filament that is the largest known structure in the observable universe, measuring approximately 10 billion light-years in length. This massive superstructure is a region of the sky seen in the data set mapping of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) that has been found to have a concentration of similarly distanced GRBs that is unusually higher than the expected average distribution. It was discovered in early November 2013 by a team of American and Hungarian astronomers led by István Horváth, Jon Hakkila and Zsolt Bagoly while analyzing data from the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission, together with other data from ground-based telescopes. It is the largest known formation in the universe, exceeding the size of the Huge-LQG by about a factor of two.
U1.11 is a large quasar group located in the constellations of Leo and Virgo. It is one of the largest LQG's known, with the estimated maximum diameter of 780 Mpc and contains 38 quasars. It was discovered in 2011 during the course of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Until the discovery of the Huge-LQG in November 2012, it was the largest known structure in the universe, beating Clowes–Campusano LQG's 20-year record as largest known structure at the time of its discovery.
The KBC Void is an immense, comparatively empty region of space, named after astronomers Ryan Keenan, Amy Barger, and Lennox Cowie, who studied it in 2013. The existence of a local underdensity has been the subject of many pieces of literature and research articles.
The Giant GRB Ring is a ring of 9 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) that may be associated with one of the largest known cosmic structures. It was discovered in July 2015 by a team of Hungarian and American astronomers led by L.G. Balazs while analyzing data from different gamma-ray and X-ray telescopes, in particular the Swift Spacecraft.
NeVe 1 is a supergiant elliptical galaxy, which is the central, dominant member and brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) of the Ophiuchus Cluster. It lies at a distance of about 411 million light-years away from Earth and is located behind the Zone of Avoidance region in the sky. It is the host galaxy of the Ophiuchus Supercluster eruption, the most energetic astronomical event known.