Astronomers discover humongous structure one-ninth the size of the observable universe

I can't even wrap my mind around something being this large - 5 billion light years across! It isn't a single structure so the title (from article) is a bit misleading. But if calculations are correct, standard model cannot be viable.

I'd love to hear what folks here think.

In fact, this mysterious structure is so colossal that it could shatter our current understanding of the cosmos.

“If we are right, this structure contradicts the current models of the universe,” said Lajos Balazs, lead author on the paper, in a press release by the Royal Astronomical Society. “It was a huge surprise to find something this big – and we still don’t quite understand how it came to exist at all.”

Just what is this massive structure? It's not a single, physical object, but rather a cluster of nine massive galaxies bound together gravitationally, much like how our Milky Way is part of a cluster of galaxies. It was discovered after researchers identified a ring of nine gamma ray bursts (GRBs) that appeared to be at very similar distances from us, each around 7 billion light years away

Read more: www.mnn.com...

a reply to: VegHead

Some sort of early look at galaxy's soon after the big bang g?

a reply to: VegHead

I'm saying its God.

Or an average American lost in space.

originally posted by: EA006
a reply to: VegHead

I'm saying its God.

Or an average American lost in space.

It's Chris Christie and Michael Moore fighting over a donught

2 replies in before american haters show up.. Way to be on it..

dbl post

Know nothing about astronomy, but I am struck by 9 galaxies bound together to totaling one ninth of the known universe. Maybe even more structure and design with a numerical purpose.

originally posted by: alienjuggalo
2 replies in before american haters show up.. Way to be on it..

Grow a sense of humour.....

a reply to: alienjuggalo

We don't hate anybody.....its a joke.

originally posted by: liveandlearn
Know nothing about astronomy, but I am struck by 9 galaxies bound together to totaling one ninth of the known universe. Maybe even more structure and design with a numerical purpose.

They have to be pretty big dam galaxies as well with trillions of stars each.

I thought I had seen that story before

www.space.com...

originally posted by: crazyewok
a reply to: VegHead

Some sort of early look at galaxy's soon after the big bang g?

7 Billion Light years seems to be half the age of the universe since the big bang...... It's not from an early stage. Not that Im an expert.

Could it be as; an atom seeing a sinew/tendon for the first time ?

As above - down below, fractals and possibly fibonacci ...

a reply to: pavil

When the James Webb telescope comes online we should get a better look.

This statement is also from the article:

GRBs are the brightest electromagnetic events known to occur in the universe, caused by a supernova. Their detection typically indicates the presence of a galaxy, so all of the GRBs in this ring are believed to each come from a different galaxy. But their close proximity to one another suggests that these galaxies must be linked together. There is only a 1 in 20,000 probability of the GRBs being in this distribution by chance.

I won't pretend to understand the physics behind this. But I've always struggled with the fine-tuning argument, which this statement (perhaps inadvertently) points to. I'm Christian but have never really been able to embrace fine tuning as an apologetic argument for theism. Probabilities in retrospect don't seem very meaningful. Probabilities are useful in predicting odds of future events, correct? I mean...What are the odds I'd be typing these words right now? Depending on the number of variables you want to include, the odds are extraordinarily small but that doesn't mean anything.

Can someone explain what the significance of this probability is in the context of this discovery?

eta: oh wait (must drink more coffee) is it just saying there is only a 1 in 20,000 chance this is random as opposed to representing different galaxies?

I'm not smart enough for this conversation. I should show myself the door.

a reply to: VegHead

With something of that size, I wonder what other stars/systems we have been missing - what might be hiding behind this enormous thing?

Very cool discovery!

First off -



Secondly a question -

Is the Universe 13 billion years old or is that only the area in the visible universe that we can see?

a reply to: Timely

I was thinking something like that, what size are super clusters?

a reply to: Xcathdra

Pretend to go.....

a reply to: Xcathdra

If it is an ever expanding universe ... we can only observe the available light relative to speed of expansion and our timescale ...

So umm ... yes.