List of largest cosmic structures

An image of the massive galaxy cluster MACS J0454.1-0300.

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 list characterizes each structure based on its longest dimension.

Note that this list refers only to coupling of matter with defined limits, and not the coupling of matter in general (as per 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 speculations about this list:

  • The Zone of Avoidance, or the part of the sky in which the Milky Way is occupied, blocks out light to several structures, making their limits imprecisely identified.
  • Some structures are far too distant to be seen even with the most powerful telescopes. Some factors are included to explain the structure (like gravitational lensing and redshift data).
  • Some structures have no defined limits, or endpoints. All structures are believed to be part of the cosmic web, which is a conclusive idea. Most structures are overlapped by nearby galaxies, creating a problem of how to carefully define the structure's limit.

List of largest structures

List of the largest cosmic structures
Structure name
(year discovered)
Maximum dimension
(in light-years)
Notes
Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall (2014)[1]10,000,000,000[2][3][4]Discovered through gamma-ray burst mapping, and is the first structure to exceed 10 billion light-years.
Giant GRB Ring (2015)[5]5,600,000,000[5]Discovered through gamma-ray burst mapping. Largest-known regular formation in the observable Universe.[5]
Huge-LQG (2012-2013)4,000,000,000[6][7][8]Decoupling of 73 quasars. Largest-known large quasar group and the first structure found to exceed 3 billion light-years.
U1.11 LQG (2011)2,500,000,000Involves 38 quasars. Adjacent to the Clowes-Campusano LQG.
Clowes–Campusano LQG (1991)2,000,000,000Grouping of 34 quasars. Discovered by Roger Clowes and Luis Campusano.
Sloan Great Wall (2003)1,380,000,000Discovered through the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
(Theoretical limit) 1,200,000,000 Structures larger than this size are incompatible with the cosmological principle according to all estimates
BOSS Great Wall (BGW) (2016)1,000,000,000Structure consisting of 4 superclusters of galaxies. The mass and volume exceeds the amount of Sloan Great Wall.[9]
Pisces-Cetus Supercluster Complex (1987)1,000,000,000Contains 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 Laniakea Supercluster.
Caelum Supercluster910,000,000Caelum Supercluster is a collection of over 550,000 galaxies. It is the largest of all galaxy supercluster.
Ophiuchus Supercluster858,000,000
Draco Supercluster808,000,000
CfA2 Great Wall (1989)750,000,000Also known as the Coma Wall
Saraswati Supercluster652,000,000[10]Saraswati Supercluster consists of 43 massive galaxy clusters, which include Abell 2361 and ZWCl 2341.1+0000.
Boötis Supercluster620,000,000
Horologium Supercluster (2005)550,000,000Also known as Horologium-Reticulum Supercluster.
Laniakea Supercluster (2014)520,000,000Galaxy supercluster in which the Earth is located
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 11500,000,000Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12]
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 12480,000,000Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12]
Newman LQG (U1.54)450,000,000
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 5430,000,000Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12]
Tesch–Engels LQG420,000,000
The Great Attractor400,000,000
Shapley Supercluster400,000,000First identified by Harlow Shapley as a cloud of galaxies in 1930, it was not identified as a structure until 1989.
Komberg–Kravstov–Lukash LQG 3390,000,000Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12]
U1.90380,000,000
Lynx–Ursa Major Filament (LUM Filament)370,000,000
Sculptor Wall370,000,000Also known as Southern Great Wall
Pisces-Cetus Supercluster350,000,000
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 2350,000,000Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12]
z=2.38 filament around protocluster ClG J2143-4423330,000,000
Webster LQG320,000,000First LQG (Large Quasar Group) discovered[12][13]
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 8310,000,000Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12]
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 1280,000,000Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12]
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 6260,000,000Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12]
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 7250,000,000Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12]
King LQG 235,000,000 Discovered by George King[14]
SCL @ 1338+27228,314,341One of most distant known superclusters.
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 9200,000,000Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12]
Newfound Blob200,000,000Giant collection of Lyman-alpha blobs
Ursa Major Supercluster200,000,000
Komberg-Kravtsov-Lukash LQG 10180,000,000Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash[11][12]

List of largest voids

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.

List of the largest voids
Void name/designation Maximum dimension
(in light-years)
Notes
KBC Void2,000,000,000Void containing the Milky Way galaxy and Local Group
The Giant Nothing1,800,000,000
Giant Void1,300,000,000Also known as Canes Venatici Supervoid
Tully-11 void880,000,000Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
Tully-10 void792,000,000Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
Tully-9 void746,000,000Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
B&B Abell-20 void684,000,000
B&B Abell-9 void652,000,000
Tully-7 void567,240,000Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
Tully-4 void564,000,000Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
Tully-6 void557,460,000Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
Tully-8 void554,200,000Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
B&B Abell-21 void521,600,000
B&B Abell-28 void521,600,000
Eridanus Supervoid489,000,000
(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 void489,000,000
B&B Abell-15 void489,000,000
Tully-3 void489,000,000Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
1994EEDTAWSS-10 void469,440,000
Tully-1 void456,400,000Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
B&B Abell-8 void456,000,000
B&B Abell-22 void456,000,000
Tully-2 void443,360,000Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
B&B Abell-24 void423,800,000
B&B Abell-27 void423,800,000
B&B Abell-7 void391,200,000
B&B Abell-12 void391,200,000
B&B Abell-29 void391,200,000
1994EEDTAWSS-21 void378,160,000
Southern Local Supervoid365,120,000
B&B Abell-10 void358,600,000
B&B Abell-11 void358,600,000
B&B Abell-13 void358,600,000
B&B Abell-17 void358,600,000
B&B Abell-19 void358,600,000
B&B Abell-23 void358,600,000
1994EEDTAWSS-19 void342,100,000
Boötes void330,000,000
1994EEDTAWSS-12 void328,000,000

See also

References

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  2. Horvath, Istvan; Hakkila, Jon; Bagoly, Zsolt (2014). "Possible structure in the GRB sky distribution at redshift two". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 561: id.L12. arXiv:1401.0533. Bibcode:2014A&A...561L..12H. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201323020.
  3. Horvath, I.; Hakkila, J.; Bagoly, Z. (2013). "The largest structure of the Universe, defined by Gamma-Ray Bursts". 7th Huntsville Gamma-Ray Burst Symposium, GRB 2013: paper 33 in eConf Proceedings C1304143. 1311: 1104. arXiv:1311.1104. Bibcode:2013arXiv1311.1104H.
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  6. Aron, Jacob. "Largest structure challenges Einstein's smooth cosmos". New Scientist. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
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  8. Clowes, Roger; Harris, Kathryn A.; Raghunathan, Srinivasan; Campusano, Luis E.; Söchting, Ilona K.; Graham, Matthew J. (2013-01-11). "A structure in the early Universe at z ∼ 1.3 that exceeds the homogeneity scale of the R-W concordance cosmology". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 1211 (4): 6256. arXiv:1211.6256. Bibcode:2013MNRAS.429.2910C. doi:10.1093/mnras/sts497. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
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  10. “Saraswati”- one of the most massive large-scale structures in the Universe discovered
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Komberg, Boris V.; Kravtsov, Andrey V.; Lukash, Vladimir N. "The search and investigation of the Large Groups of Quasars": 2090. arXiv:astro-ph/9602090. Bibcode:1996astro.ph..2090K.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R.G.Clowes; "Large Quasar Groups - A Short Review"; 'The New Era of Wide Field Astronomy', ASP Conference Series, Vol. 232.; 2001; Astronomical Society of the Pacific; ISBN 1-58381-065-X ; Bibcode: 2001ASPC..232..108C
  13. Webster, Adrian (May 1982). "The clustering of quasars from an objective-prism survey". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 199: 683–705. Bibcode:1982MNRAS.199..683W. doi:10.1093/mnras/199.3.683.
  14. "1996MNRAS.282..713K Page 713". adsabs.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
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