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A gas filament with a length of 50 million light years –unfathomably large thread-like structures of hot gas that surround and connect galaxies and galaxy clusters–has been observed by astronomers at the University of Bonn for the first time Its structure is uncannily similar to the predictions of recent computer simulations.
“A Tiny Aberration”
We owe our existence to a tiny aberration, reports the University of Bonn. Over the course of 13 billion years, since the Big Bang, “a kind of sponge structure developed: large ‘holes. without any matter, with areas in between where thousands of galaxies are gathered in a small space, so-called galaxy clusters, that should still be connected by remnant filaments of the primordial gas, like the gossamer-thin threads of a spider web.
Astronomers find universe s longest intergalactic gas filament
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Researchers were able to detect a near-invisible intergalactic gas filament connecting the three galaxy clusters that form a superstructure known as Abell 3391/95. Photo by Reiprich et al./Astronomy & Astrophysics
Dec. 17 (UPI) Astronomers have discovered a massive intergalactic gas filament measuring at least 50 million light years in length the longest yet to be found.
Intergalactic filaments are long threads of hot gas that weave their way through galaxies and link together galactic clusters.
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Just five percent of the universe is made up of ordinary, or visible, matter. So far, astronomers have visually confirmed the existence of only about half that matter.