They discovered a giant ring of galaxies spanning 4,000 light years that challenges the theory of the universe.

Research work carried out in Central Lancashire University revealed a huge structure not directly observable and formed millions of galaxies. This is shown after analyzing data collected in one of the most extensive existing catalogs of space objects.

This discovery tests one of the fundamental principles on which knowledge is based on Universeaccording to which the cosmos is homogeneous in terms of the distribution of matter.

He Big Ringthe name that was used to refer to this structure has the size 1.3 billion light years and is 9.2 billion light years away. away from Earth. Even though it is so far away, if it could be seen with the naked eye in the night sky, it would cover an area equivalent to 15 full moons.

This is the second ultra-large structure discovered by University of Central Lancashire PhD student Alexia Lopes, who also discovered Giant bow in the sky. They are both in the same cosmological neighborhood: visible at the same distance, at the same cosmic time, and separated in the sky by only 12 degrees.

Possible origin

Are two extra large structures easy to explain in our current understanding of the universe. There are several options that correspond to their size and cosmological proximity. One possibility is that the Great Ring is connected to Baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO). They arise from fluctuations in the early Universe and should look, at least statistically, like spherical shells in the arrangement of galaxies.

However, detailed analysis of the Great Ring showed that it is not entirely compatible with the BAO explanation, since it is too large and not spherical in shape. Therefore, other explanations may be required that depart from what is generally considered the standard understanding in cosmology. One of them may be another theory, conformal cyclic cosmology (CCC), proposed by Nobel laureate Sir Roger Penrose. Rings in the Universe could be a sign of CCC.

But this could also be an effect of the passage of cosmic strings. These lines”topological defects“Large-sized filaments that could have been created in the early Universe.

This Great Ring appears to be an almost perfect ring in the sky, but Lopez’s more detailed analysis shows that Has a spiral shape, like a corkscrew facing the Earth. The giant arc, approximately 1/15th the radius of the observable Universe, looks like a huge, almost symmetrical crescent of galaxies in the distant Universe.