The LARGEST Known Structure in the Universe

Hey Space Placers!

Yesterday I blogged on the biggest spiral galaxy known. Today it is the LARGEST known structure in the Universe.

Spanning some 4 BILLION light years, the structure is known as a Large Quasar Group or LQG. Quasars - active and super luminous centers of galaxies powered by black holes - are known to exist at the center of most galaxies and have been found to congregate in groups since about 1982.

Artist Rendition of a Very Distant Quasar
ESO

What makes this LQG so large is the linear dimension that spans such a large distance and encompasses 73 quasars.

Read the original paper http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/01/07/mnras.sts497.full

Sky Guy in VA