You can't look online these days without some new mystery being discovered in space, and while some of it does answer age old questions, many of these new discoveries are leaving astronomers with more questions than answers.
Space is full of mysteries, and exciting new discoveries are being found all the time. From out-of-control spacecrafts, to planets that could host alien life. But the latest discovery has scientists scratching their heads.
Astronomers have spotted the largest structure in the universe, which they say appears to stretch stretch around ten billion light years across.
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The structure, also known as the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great, is currently being studied, as many scientists believe it may actually be closer to Earth than recent calculations might have suggested.
What is the Hercules–Corona Borealis supercluster?
The Hercules–Corona Borealis is being considered a supercluster because of how it gathers multiple galaxies into one region.
Dr. Jon Hakkila from the University of Alabama in Huntsville stated “It is larger than the size of most anything to which it might be compared,” when talking about the new discovery.
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While other similar structures have been found in space, the Hercules–Corona Borealis is one of the most impressive, as its 10 billion light year stretch dwarfs them all.
Other similar structures to have been spotted in space include:
- Sloan Great Wall
- Huge Large Quasar Group
- Giant Quasar Arc
While the others might be impressive, the Hercules–Corona Borealis is almost 25 times larger than the Sloan Great Wall, which was discovered back in 2003.
The Hercules–Corona Borealis still isn't fully mapped
While this might be an impressive discovery, astronomers are yet to fully map the structure.
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Using gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), they are currently trying to confirm the walls full outline, which has proven to be difficult. Astronomers are currently trying to rule out clustering or signal confusion, in an attempt to work out where the Hercules–Corona Borealis starts and ends.
According to Dr. Hakkila “Since the most distant extent of the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall is hard to verify, the most interesting finding is that the closest parts of it lie closer to us than had previously been identified,”
Astronomers are hoping with the creation of new satellites, they may be able to start getting a sharper picture, and fully understand the data which could help them map out large structures in space.
In the meantime, they're hoping that an upcoming mission might be able to provide them with the data they need to finally outline the full stretch of this colossal space structure.
Kegan Marquez