The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel: Sci, Space, Tech

F O L L O W T H E DA IL Y G A L A X Y

Nov ember 1 9, 201 3

The Largest Discovered Structure in the Universe Contradicts Big-Bang Theory Cosmology
(Weekend Feature)

"While it is difficult to fathom the scale of this "large quasar group" (LQG), we can say quite definitely it is the largest structure ev er
seen in the entire univ erse," said Dr Clowes of Univ ersity of Central Lancashire'sJeremiah Horrocks Institute. "This is hugely
ex citing not least because it runs counter to our current understanding of the scale of the univ erse. Ev en trav eling at the speed
of light, it would take 4 billion y ears to cross. This is significant not just because of its size but also because it challenges the
Cosmological Principle, which has been widely accepted since Einstein. Our team has been looking at similar cases which add
further weight to this challenge and we will be continuing to inv estigate these fascinating phenomena."

This LQG challenges the Cosmological Principle, the assumption that the univ erse, when v iewed at a sufficiently large scale, looks
the same no matter where y ou are observ ing it from. The modern theory of cosmology is based on the work of Albert Einstein,
and depends on the assumption of the Cosmological Principle. The principle is assumed, but has nev er been demonstrated
observ ationally 'bey ond reasonable doubt.'
Quasars are the nuclei of galax ies from the early day s of the univ erse that undergo brief periods of ex tremely high brightness that
make them v isible across huge distances. These periods are 'brief' in astrophy sics terms but actually last 1 0-1 00 million y ears.
Since 1 982 it has been known that quasars tend to group together in clumps or 'structures' of surprisingly large sizes, forming
large quasar groups or LQGs.
To giv e some sense of scale, our galax y , the Milky Way , is separated from its nearest neighbor, the Andromeda Galax y , by about
0.7 5 Megaparsecs (Mpc) or 2.5 million light-y ears. Whole clusters of galax ies can be 2-3 Mpc across but LQGs can be 200 Mpc or
more across. Based on the Cosmological Principle and the modern theory of cosmology , calculations suggest that astrophy sicists
should not be able to find a structure larger than 37 0 Mpc. Clowes' newly discov ered LQG howev er has a ty pical dimension of 500
Mpc. But because it is elongated, its longest dimension is 1 200 Mpc (or 4 billion light y ears) some 1 600 times larger than the distance from the Milky Way to Andromeda.

The colored background of the image abov e indicates the peaks and troughs in the occurrence of quasars at the distance of the
LQG. Darker colors indicate more quasars, lighter colors indicate fewer quasars. The LQG is clearly seen as a long chain of peaks
indicated by black circles. (The red crosses mark the positions of quasars in a different and smaller LQG). The horizontal and
v ertical ax es represent right ascension and declination, the celestial equiv alent of longitude and latitude. The map cov ers around
29.4 by 24 degrees on the sky , indicating the huge scale of the newly discov ered structure.

The team published their results in the journal Monthly Notices of the Roy al Astronomical Society .
The Daily Galax y v ia Roy al Astronomical Society
Image Credit: R. G. Clowes / UCLan
Related articles

Pr im or dia l
Ma t t er fr om
Big Ba n g
Fu elin g a
Dist a n t
Ga la x y

Dw a r f
Ga la x ies
Con dr a dict
Da r k Ma t t er
Pr edict ion s

New T y pe of
Qu a sa r
Fou n d,
Ba fflin g
Scien t ist s

Posted at 01 :1 9 AM | Permalink

Like

5.4k

136

Tw eet

164

107

Com m ents
I don't understand why there are still those who think the univ erse is only 1 3 .7 billion y ears old. We can only see that far without
grav itational lensing because dark energy is pushing those objects and ourselv es away from each other faster than the speed of light, their
light will nev er reach us. The m ost distant galaxies im aged don't appear to be any y ounger than our neighbors.
Edwin Hubble hy pothesized the big bang when he observ ed a red shift in all other galaxies except Androm eda. Today we know this illusion

of being at the center of a inflating univ erse is caused by dark energy . In m y opinion the univ erse is m ore likely to be infinite in tim e and
space than to be y oung and if not the univ erse than certainly the m ultiv erse.
Posted by : Logan | Nov em ber 1 7 , 2 01 3 at 1 0:1 9 AM
Logan, I agree. The univ erse is v ery , v ery old and v ery , v ery large. This story is just another nail in the coffin of the BB theory .
Posted by : Dr. Paul Cook | Nov em ber 1 7 , 2 01 3 at 1 0:4 1 AM
Guy s, it is not that easy to get rid of a 'big bang - kind' perception. The 'big bang' alway s was sounding non-elegant to m e too, because it was
putting a point - zero in tim es infinite axis. But m any facts lead to it unfortunately : Hubble's constant, particles properties and
supersy m etry , fundam ental forces behav ior, entropy , all these are som ehow tracing backwards into a com m on origin if we still want to
believ e in cause and effect principles...
Posted by : Theodor Sam oladas | Nov em ber 1 7 , 2 01 3 at 02 :1 0 PM
You hav e not seen any thing y et, wait in 3 , 5 ,8 y ears and we will learned of ev en larger structures. The sponge we exist in is so large......
Posted by : Knize1 0 | Nov em ber 1 7 , 2 01 3 at 02 :2 5 PM
I think if Einstein had liv ed in today 's world, he would hav e rev ised his theories radically . Considering all the strange observ ations and
contradictions to his m odel. The tim e he liv ed in just sim ply did not hav e the technology av ailable for him to m ake a m ore com plete
hy pothesis.
Posted by : Matthew | Nov em ber 1 7 , 2 01 3 at 02 :54 PM
The sam e way Ferm i could only for his opinion based on m id 2 0th century technology . I think if Ferm i could see how m uch of the univ erse
is set up for life to propagate. His theories would also be wildly different.
Posted by : Matthew | Nov em ber 1 7 , 2 01 3 at 02 :56 PM
Um m Logan, I think y ou m isunderstand how astronom y gets to the age of the univ erse. Certainly there are galaxies further than lets say
1 4 billion y ears away from earth...but that doesnt m ean the univ erse is older than 1 4 billion y ears. We just can only see 1 4 billion light
y ears of radius of that univ erse. Giv en a certain dark energy factor, the Univ erse is thought to be well ov er 7 0 billion light y ears in size...
Also, grav itational lensing is used to look through Dark MATTER, it has absolutely nothing to do with dark energy . The Age com es from
heat loss equations and the m easured "tem p" of the univ erse at certain stages (now, cosm ic m icrowav e background) and particle phy sics.
Posted by : DDub | Nov em ber 1 7 , 2 01 3 at 03 :2 8 PM
"I think if Einstein had liv ed in today 's world, he would hav e rev ised his theories radically . Considering all the strange observ ations and
contradictions to his m odel. The tim e he liv ed in just sim ply did not hav e the technology av ailable for him to m ake a m ore com plete
hy pothesis."
Things m ight be a LOT different had he sim ply known about the real, m assiv e particle potential of the quantum v acuum :
http://www.lns.cornell.edu/spr/2 005-06 /m sg006 9 7 55.htm l
Posted by : Rick | Nov em ber 1 7 , 2 01 3 at 03 :3 4 PM
Logan - I don't think dark m ater is pushing any thing.
It does not interact actually with any kind of m ater, neither it does project any kind of grav itational distortion.
It does actually looks like try ing to "Copy " the shape of the m ost object.
Posted by : Yordan | Nov em ber 1 7 , 2 01 3 at 04 :51 PM
I wonder if som eone ev er asked him self the sim ply question:
- How does it will looks like if another dim ension is try ing to interact/break in our dim ension ?
- How does the other dim ension "particles" will looks like and act in our dim ension ?
Posted by : Yordan | Nov em ber 1 7 , 2 01 3 at 05:2 3 PM
Okay , here it is folks...
When any one talks about the age of the univ erse, it`s the tim e from the big bang till now.
The univ erse is older and larger than the hum an m ind can ev en fathom the size or age.
The univ erse alway s was, is and shall be.
Scientist, astronom ists, ev en Neil DeGrasse Ty son, when they speak of the Univ erse, it`s really the known Univ erse they `re referring to.
You see, we hav e no way of knowing for sure how large and how old the univ erse is. Only our sm all corner of it since the big bang.
Ground based telescopes can only see back about 6 billion y ears.
The Hubble deep field can only see 1 .5 billion y ears.
The Hubble Ultra deep field, within 800 m illion y ears after the big bang.
Hubble Ultra Deep Field IR? 4 80 m illion.
The JST? When it`s in operation, 2 80 m illion y ears after the big bang.
What happens when we create a spaced based telescope that can see past 1 3 .7 billion y ears, past the am ount of tim e since the big bang.
What then?

Posted by : Frank A Tankerton | Nov em ber 1 7 , 2 01 3 at 07 :3 3 PM

We do hav e the belief that ours is the only univ erse that exist or ev er has existed. We think that our univ erse will expand into the infinite,
as we believ e that the birth of this univ erse is the beginning of tim e. What would happen if there were infinite num ber of univ erses and
like all m atter that exist clum p together like cream of wheat (or grav y ). That our univ erse is part of a larger cluster of univ erses that we
m ay be considered a rogue univ erse (a dwarf univ erse). What would happen if the quasars that we are observ ing near the big bang lies
outside our univ erse and is m uch larger than ours. We are still like those who say the world is flat, and Earth is the center of the univ erse;

or those who believ e in m ulti-v erses (an endless replication of ourselv es with m inor v ariations on the self).
Posted by : kristi2 7 6 | Nov em ber 1 7 , 2 01 3 at 1 0:3 4 PM
The univ erse is larger and older than the hum an m ind can im agine?
Is the univ erse older that 6 00 trillion y ears? Fourteen billion y ears seem s like a long tim e, but is it like seeing som e one who is just a
teenager, as com pared to som eone who is in a m id-life crisis of fifty or sixty y ears old (50 or 6 0 billion y ears). As com pared to old age at
eighty (billion) y ears old? As far as how large the univ erse is; it does not go into the infinite.
Space is infinite but the univ erse is finite, so the num ber of univ erse is infinite.
Posted by : kristi2 7 6 | Nov em ber 1 7 , 2 01 3 at 1 0:4 3 PM
BACK TO THE STEADY STATE THEORIES
After all it seem s that the ideas of Fred Hoy le and the Steady State Theory in general are m ore correct than the strange Big Bang.
Ev ery where we look, we can observ e all kinds of form ativ e cy cles and recy cling com posed by sm all rotating atom s with orbiting elektrons
which im ages ev en the largest structures in cosm os. Ev ery thing we can observ e tells of an eternal form ativ e changes of assem bling and
dissolv ing gaseous and particle m atters.
Ev en our ancestors states this in their m any cultural Stories of Creation where the m y tho-cosm ological term , "The Prim ordial Waters",
resem bles the "eternal hy drogenic watery ocean" in the Univ erse, scientifically described as The Cosm ic Microwav e Background and its
fluctuating radiation in where ev ery thing is created and recreated ov er and ov er again.
- Ev en that m any stories of creation begins with "a beginning" this is just a telling technique in order to explain the basical principles of
creation by the basic 4 elem ents and their com plem entary qualities unfolding in the 5.th "elem ent" of space.
Modern cosm ological science has gone com pletely astray because of a the linear world v iew where all ev idences shows a cy clic univ erse
from atom s to superclusters of galaxies with a m utual location of orbit.
Iv ar Nielsen
Natural Philosopher
Posted by : Iv ar Nielsen | Nov em ber 1 8, 2 01 3 at 02 :3 8 AM
To be accepted one theory , it m ust be reconciled with the actual conditions of the nature. The proposal, of the theory of big bang, was m ade
according to the condition that the theory would answer to som e questions, that not been answered with the actual data.
I will not refer to these questions, because it will take too m uch space to describe them and because I feel that m any of these questions are
fam iliar to all of us,
Because of the theory is not able to answer to any of these questions it tries to incorporate these questions as realities of nature. As a result,
instead of prov iding answers we hav e new questions these to be increased. So, we reached to the point of looking for, dark m atter, dark
energy , black holes, initial conditions that do not obey the laws of nature, etc., without being able to determ ine som ething about these
concepts.
The bad thing of this case is the fact that the incum bent perceptions cannot fit any thing other than the perceptions of the theory of big
bang. So are discarded theories which describe the creation m uch better than the theory of big bang.
For exam ple, the theory of Pointal charges, described in chapters six and sev en of the book, From the inside of quarks and up to bey ond
the Univ erse.
Posted by : Vaggelis Talios | Nov em ber 1 8, 2 01 3 at 06 :2 9 AM
I lov e how m any com m ents there are here of people say ing "no the univ erse is like THIS!" Ev ery single scientist who actually has relev ant
knowledge on the subject of cosm ology speaks v ery carefully about it. We're obv iously learning a lot about our univ erse and m ost of it is
still confusing. Especially to those of us who get our knowledge from pop-science websites and m agazines. Let's just all agree that we don't
know y et, shall we?
Posted by : Mike | Nov em ber 1 8, 2 01 3 at 1 2 :2 4 PM
Howev er I suggest the picture of a Cosm os com posed of m any Univ erses and m any Parallel-univ erses that continuity , ev olv es and grows.
This Cosm os is surrounded by an em pty space which extends to infinity . I believ e that this picture of Cosm os is v ery close to the reality .
Posted by : Vaggelis Talios | Nov em ber 1 8, 2 01 3 at 01 :02 PM
@ Vaggelis Talios,
There is no such thing as "em pty space". Read these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_m edium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_space#Env ironm ent
Posted by : Iv ar Nielsen | Nov em ber 1 8, 2 01 3 at 02 :1 1 PM
This is the best com m ent thread I'v e ev er seen on this site.
Posted by : JB | Nov em ber 1 8, 2 01 3 at 02 :2 7 PM
To understanding to the univ erse is the sam e to understand one's self. First y ou m ust env ision y our m ind as to be infinite in that we can
takes the im agination to no lim its. Also y ou m ust, env ision a univ erse that cannot, be m easured or weighed by things that we cannot
im agine. It is a cosm ological parody of ones desire to be infinite or one with the univ erse.
Posted by : Vespucci Helios | Nov em ber 1 8, 2 01 3 at 02 :59 PM
@Iv ar Nielsen. A clarification. You are absolutely right. Between galaxies and v arious celestial bodies, there is the Interstellar. May be I
should clarify that with the phrase em pty space, did not m ean the v oid between the galaxies or the v oid between the v arious celestial
bodies, but I m eant the v oid that extend bey ond the boundaries of the Univ erses and Parallel-univ erses. Indeed in the analy tical works I do

not use the term em pty space, but the term absolutely em pty space. The rest, I believ e and hope that one day we will hav e the
opportunity to discuss.
Posted by : Vaggelis Talios | Nov em ber 1 8, 2 01 3 at 04 :1 5 PM
One problem I hav e with the theory of an expanding univ erse is that to ov ercom e the fact we appear to be at the center of it, it was argued,
based on the theory of relativ ity , that space itself is expanding, y et it is still assum ed these other galaxies are m ov ing away from us in
distances m easured by the speed of light. In other words, it is assum ed that as they m ov e away , it will take light longer to trav erse the
distance. That is not relativ istic, since the speed of light does not rem ain constant to this expanded space. For that to be, the speed of light
should increase, proportional to the expanded space, otherwise this space is being denom inated in lighty ears and the expansion is the
num erator, which m eans it is increased distance, not expanding space. Rem em ber, 'space is what y ou m easure with a ruler' and the ruler
is set by C. Say ing it's all four dim ensional and we just can't v isualize it in our three dim ensional space, ignores the fact that the space
between two points is only one dim ension. Say ing the light is just being 'carried along' by this expansion doesn't m ake any sense either,
since it is still being denom inated in lighty ears, which are not expanding. It would be like say ing that if y ou put a ruler in y our car and
driv e down the road, it stretches space.
Now, we are at the center of our optical perception of the univ erse and so if redshift is an optical effect, this situation would be quite logical.
Not to m ention that as an optical effect, it would com pound on itself, creating a parabolic curv e of increasing redshift and this would
explain the shifting pattern we observ ed about halfway to the horizon line of what's v isible, currently being explained as an effect of dark
energy .
That cosm ic background radiation from the edge of the v isible horizon, would be the light of ev en further sources, shifted com pletely off
the v isible spectrum . Thus the answer to Olber's paradox.
Posted by : John Merry m an | Nov em ber 1 8, 2 01 3 at 04 :3 3 PM
scientists claim they hav e figured out that there is an infinite am ount of univ erses. http://www.deathandtaxesm ag.com /1 9 6 001 /bigbang-breakthrough-indicates-infinite-num ber-of-univ erses-exist/
Posted by : m ike | Nov em ber 1 8, 2 01 3 at 1 0:2 6 PM
Quasars - it could not long and not super-m assiv e objects. It's sim ple - the lights of ships of the galactic fleet, which incidentally is fly ing in
our direction. The Doppler effect is offset by the relativ istic tim e dilation of oscillators, so we see a red shift of the spectrum instead of the
ultra-v iolet.
Posted by : Leo Polishchuk | Nov em ber 1 9 , 2 01 3 at 1 2 :3 1 AM
@ John Merry m an,
Of course we are not at the centre of the Univ erse. The observ atons just shows what is found in the m easurable part of it, as y ou wrote.
Many people hav e problem s with an expanding univ erse and it all goes bananas when scientist states that it ev en is accelerating and of
course another dark m agic (dark energy ) is needed in order to patch this unscientifically idea which directly contradicts the Big Bang
idea.
Read about the redshift anom alies here: http://electric-cosm os.org/arp.htm
@ Vaggelis Talios
Thanks for the reply . You wrote:
"I m eant the v oid that extend bey ond the boundaries of the Univ erses and Parallel-univ erses".
AD: In m y opinion there is just THE Univ erse and it has no boundaries.
Regards Iv ar
Posted by : Iv ar Nielsen | Nov em ber 1 9 , 2 01 3 at 01 :04 AM

Verify y our Com m ent

Prev iewing y our Com m ent
Posted by : |
This is only a prev iew. Y our comment has not y et been posted.
Post

Edit

Y our comment could not be posted. Error ty pe:

Y our comment has been posted. Post another comment
The letters and numbers y ou entered did not match the image. Please try again.
As a final step before posting y our comment, enter the letters and numbers y ou see in the image below. This prev ents automated
programs from posting comments.
Hav ing trouble reading this image? V iew an alternate.
Continue