Scientists have discovered the largest structure in the known universe, Quipu, about 1.3 billion light-years wide.
The structure was named after the ancient Incan system of making knots with thread to record data. Quipu is massive, about 13,000 times the size of the Milky Way, and contains around 200 quadrillions of the sun’s mass. The superstructure resembles the Incan quipu, containing longer filaments and shorter ones that go out. While this is the largest structure found so far, the researchers who conducted the study found four more formations that rival some of the largest ever recorded.
Quipu, the largest structure ever found in the universe
Astronomers have discovered the largest known structure in the universe, named Quipu. This massive superstructure spans over 1.3 billion light-years and contains 200 quadrillion solar masses. Quipu, along with four other newly discovered superstructures, holds about 45% of galaxy… pic.twitter.com/gEvnSLv5Ro
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Quipu is more than 400 megaparsecs long and affects its surroundings from its sheer mass and size. The researchers who published the study in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics say that the discovery could help them better understand how galaxies form.
“Quipu is actually a prominent structure readily noticeable by eye in a sky map of clusters in the target redshift range, without the help of a detection method,” said the team in the study.
The team sought to map and understand the superstructure’s stature. They used various methods to learn its measurements and how exactly Quipu affected its locality in the universe.
“For a precise determination of cosmological parameters, we need to understand the effects of the local large-scale structure of the Universe on the measurements,” wrote the authors. “They include modifications of the cosmic microwave background, distortions of sky images by large-scale gravitational lensing, and the influence of large-scale streaming motions on measurements of the Hubble constant.”
Quipu, and superstructures like it, are a curveball for scientists trying to understand how galaxies and other formations are created. The other four superstructures were observed alongside Quipu. They are the Serpens-Corona Borealis superstructure, the Hercules supercluster, and the Sculptor-Pegasus superstructure, the formerly largest Shapley supercluster. These five superstructures make up an astonishing 45 percent of the known galaxy clusters, 30 percent of the total observable galaxies, 25 percent of the universe’s matter, and 13 percent of the universe’s total volume.
The Future
Despite their enormity, the five superstructures are not actually permanent. They will eventually break apart and fade over the next billions of years. Their collapses will form smaller structures, eventually combining into other superstructures, repeating the cycle until the universe is no more.
“In the future cosmic evolution, these superstructures are bound to break up into several collapsing units,” the researchers noted. “They are thus transient configurations. But at present, they are special physical entities with characteristic properties and special cosmic environments deserving special attention.”
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