11 January 2013

Largest Structure in the Universe


A massive quasar grouping was discovered by astronomers and is presently the largest recognized configuration in the universe.  This structure stretches the gap of 4 billion light-years from one end to another. 
Quasars are the brightest identified object in the universe.  This recently discovered large quasar grouping is composed of 73 quasars and spans 1.6 billion light-years, however, it is 4 billion light-years at its widest portion.  Prior to this discovery, scientists believed that quasars that were larger than 1.2 billion light years could not be in existence. 
In order to wrap your head around the size of this quasar group, our own Milky Way galaxy is 100,000 light years wide. 
(Reference:  Space.com) 
 

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