What is the largest structure in the universe?
Hi! I have a question regarding the scale of the cosmos. My question: What is the largest structure in the universe?
The largest structures in the universe are superclusters, which are large associations of galaxies that can extend over distances of more than 100 million light-years.
I just did a quick search through the literature, and the largest supercluster on which I was able to find any information is the Sculptor Supercluster, which, according to the supercluster catalog compiled by a group of astronomers at Tartu Observatory in Estonia and the IUE Observatory in Spain, is nearly 1 billion light-years away, and extends roughly 250 million light-years from end to end. That's not to say that there might not be some larger superclusters out there, but astronomers don't have any reason to believe that there are any structures bigger than superclusters.
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