Almost a third of all the galaxies that we can observe in the universe are grouped into five structures of an unimaginable scale. Astronomers have just discovered the greatest of all. With more than one billion light years in diameter, Quipu is the largest supplies ever discovered.
A super -as -called Quipu. Quipu is A galactic supercumulus of 1.3 billion light years (more than 400 megapatscs) with an estimated mass of 2 × 10¹⁷ solar masses, about 200 four times more massive than the sun.
The pantagruélica structure has been baptized as quipu in honor of the strings and knots system of the Incas. The Inca wove wool threads making knots in different ways to count or transcribe messages, such as those that scientists begin to decipher in the filaments and ramifications of these cosmic superstructures.
The cosmic network of matter. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is part of the local group along with its neighbor Andromeda, the triangle galaxy and numerous satellite galaxies. The local group, in turn, is part of a large collection of clusters called the Galactic Super Cumulus of Virgo.
At the same time, Virgo’s supercumulus is within a gigantic filamentous structure called Laniakea. Laniakea contains approximately 100,000 galaxies and extends over 520 million light years. Thus, as the scale increases, the matter of the universe is weaving a cosmic network that astronomers are trying to capture on a map.
Five superstructures. An international astronomer team located in Germany, South Africa and Spain has made The first study at a global scale of the biggest structures of the universe.
Using galaxies clusters observed in X -rays By the Classix Cluster Survey, the researchers identified five especially prominent superstructures. In addition to Quipu, they found Shaley, Serpens-Corona Borealis, Hercules and Sculptor-Pasus.
These five superstructures group approximately 30% of the galaxies and 25% of the matter of the universe, occupying 13% of the total volume. Its small lateral ramifications visually evoke the knots of a quipu, which somehow encode crucial information on the formation and evolution of the cosmos.
Quipu’s influence. Immense concentrations of mass such as Quipu are fundamental to understand how the network of matter is weaved in the cosmos and why there are discrepancies between the Hubble constant, which measures the expansion of the universe, and the speed at which the galaxies are separated.
Quipu’s enormous mass exerts a significant impact. Its severity is so great that it can be inducing peculiar movements in the galaxies, as well as distortions in the microwave background radiation, a very weak electromagnetic echo from the Big Bang.
Image | Max Planck Institute