Unveiling the Universe's Largest Known Structure - A Cosmic Breakthrough

A Cosmic Giant

Astronomers have discovered a colossal structure in the universe, aptly named Quipu after the Incan knotted cord system. Spanning a staggering 1.3 billion light-years, Quipu dwarfs the Milky Way by over 13,000 times, making it potentially the largest known structure in the cosmos.

This cosmic behemoth resembles the traditional quipu, with a central filament and numerous smaller filaments branching off, reminiscent of the knotted cords used by the Incas. These filaments are composed of galaxies, gas, and dark matter, forming part of the cosmic web, the universe's large-scale structure.

Quipu offers invaluable insights into the distribution of matter and the evolution of galaxies within cosmic filaments. It sheds light on dark matter, cosmic expansion, and the formation of the cosmic web. Studying such structures helps refine models of large-scale structure formation in the universe.

The discovery of Quipu, along with four other superstructures, was made possible by the CLASSIX Cluster Survey, which utilizes X-ray galaxy clusters to identify and analyze superstructures. These clusters, containing thousands of galaxies and hot intracluster gas, emit X-rays that reveal the densest regions of matter concentration, outlining the underlying cosmic web.

This groundbreaking discovery underscores the importance of X-rays in mapping the universe's mass and identifying massive cosmic formations. Quipu and its counterparts provide crucial information for understanding the universe's structure and evolution.