Post by Andrei Tchentchik on Sept 4, 2020 17:11:16 GMT 2
(.#520).- Cosmic Record Holders, the 12 Biggest Objects in the Universe.
Cosmic Record Holders: The 12 Biggest Objects in the Universe.
October 04, 2019.
By Adam Mann - Live Science Contributor
The universe is a big place, and it's full of big things. Planets, stars, galaxies and clusters of galaxies extend upward on ever-more-massive scales. Here we marvel at some of the record holders in different cosmic categories, perhaps feeling humbled by the universe's ability to produce entities of incredible size and grandeur.
1). Largest exoplanet: GQ Lupi b
(Image credit: ESO)
Astronomers weren't sure what to make of the mysterious GQ Lupi b when it was first discovered in 2005. Orbiting a young star around two and a half times farther than Pluto is from the sun, the companion object seemed to be either a planet or a brown dwarf, which is actually a type of small star. Subsequent observations have yet to clear up the confusion, but the best estimates suggest GQ Lupi b has a radius around 3.5 times that of Jupiter, meaning that if it is an exo-planet, it's the largest ever found.
2). Largest star: UY Scuti
(Image credit: Philip Park/CC by SA 3.0)
UY Scuti is a hypergiant star with a radius that's around 1,700 times larger than the sun, making it the biggest known star in the universe. If someone were to place UY Scuti at the center of the solar system, its edge would extend just beyond the orbit of Jupiter. Gas and dust streaming from the star would extend even farther out, beyond the orbit of Pluto, or around 400 times the Earth-sun distance.
3). Largest Nebula: The Tarantula Nebula
(Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/L.Townsley et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/JPL/PSU/L.Townsley et al.)
Both the largest known nebula and most active star-forming region in our local galactic neighborhood, the Tarantula Nebula stretches for more than 1,800 light-years at its longest span. Also known as 30 Doradus, the object is located 170,000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy that orbits our Milky Way. Rather than a killer arachnid, this Tarantula is a stellar nursery — within its beautiful folds of gas and dust young stars are being born.
4). Largest empty spot: Supervoid in Eridanus
(Image credit: Bill Saxton/NRAO/AUI/NSF/NASA)
In 2004, astronomers noticed a gigantic region of empty space in maps created by NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite, which scanned in exquisite detail the cosmic microwave background, or the leftover radiation from the Big Bang. The spot, which spans 1.8 billion light-years across, according to Vice, is strangely devoid of stars, gas, dust and even dark matter. While they have seen previous voids, researchers remain baffled as to how exactly one of this size and scale formed.
5). Largest galaxy: IC 1101
(Image credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Space Telescope)
Our Milky Way galaxy is around 100,000 light-years across, but that's fairly average for a spiral galaxy. In comparison, the largest known galaxy, called IC 1101, is 50 times larger and about 2,000 times more massive than our galactic home. Stretching for an impressive 5.5 million light-years, IC 1101 is so big that, if placed where the Milky Way is now, its edge would reach past our nearest galactic neighbor, Andromeda.
6). Largest black hole: TON 618
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Supermassive black holes are thought to lurk in the center of every galaxy and can clock in at many millions of times the mass of the sun. But the biggest known black hole can be found powering a distant quasar — gigantic objects in the early universe spewing out insane amounts of radiation. This one, known as TON 618, has an estimated mass of 66 billion suns, according to a statement.
7). Largest galactic farts: Fermi Bubbles
(Image credit: SARAO/Oxford)
In 2010, astronomers using the Fermi space telescope discovered colossal structures emerging from the Milky Way. These massive blobs, which can only be seen in certain wavelengths of light, are a towering 25,000 light-years tall (a quarter of the Milky Way's width). Researchers believe the bubbles are the result of an ancient feeding frenzy that our galaxy's central black hole experienced, resulting in enormous belches of energy.
8). Largest single object: Protocluster SPT2349-56
(Image credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser)
Back when the universe was only a tenth of its current age, 14 galaxies began crashing together and forming the most massive known gravitationally bound cosmic object, protocluster SPT2349-56. Squeezed together in a space that's only about three times as big as our Milky Way galaxy, this megamerger will eventually combine into a single galaxy weighing 10 trillion times the mass of the sun. Additional observations have revealed that around 50 additional galaxies surround the structure, which will settle into a gigantic object known as a galactic cluster, in which many galaxies orbit one another.
9). Largest galactic collection: Shapley Supercluster
(Image credit: ESA; Planck Collaboration/Rosat/Digitised Sky Survey)
Astronomer Harlow Shapley discovered a colossal collection of galaxies in the 1930s that now bears his name. Containing more than 8,000 galaxies and with a mass of more than 10 million billion times that of the sun, the Shapley Supercluster is the largest structure in the local universe, according to the European Space Agency.
10). Largest supercluster: Laniakea Supercluster
(Crédit d'image: Andrew Z. Colvin / CC par SA 4.0)
Notre Voie lactée n'est qu'un petit membre d'une collection gargantuesque de collections de galaxies connue sous le nom de Laniakea Supercluster. Bien qu'il n'ait pas de frontières formelles, les astronomes estiment qu'il contient environ 100 000 galaxies avec une masse totale d'environ 100 millions de milliards de fois celle du soleil, et s'étend sur plus de 520 millions d'années-lumière.
11). La plus grande collection de quasars : Huge-LQG
(Crédit image: ESA / Hubble & NASA)
Les objets lointains super brillants propulsés par un trou noir connus sous le nom de quasars sont déjà très grands. Mais parfois, les quasars peuvent se regrouper en grappes, la plus grande étant nommée avec imagination le Huge-LQG (pour Huge Large Quasar Group). Contenant 73 quasars et une masse estimée à 6,1 quintillions (c'est-à-dire un 1 suivi de 18 zéros) de soleils, la collection cosmique colossale est estimée à 4 milliards d'années-lumière à sa plus grande envergure, selon The Atlantic.
12). La plus grande chose de l'univers: la Grande Muraille d'Hercule-Corona Borealis
(Crédit image: ESO / L. Calçada)
En cartographiant les emplacements des sursauts gamma - des explosions fugitives mais puissantes qui se produisent quand une étoile massive meurt - les astronomes ont découvert ce qui est souvent considéré comme la plus grande entité connue dans le cosmos: la Grande Muraille Hercules-Corona Borealis. L'objet mesure 10 milliards d'années-lumière et pourrait contenir des milliards de galaxies. La Grande Muraille a été découverte pour la première fois en 2013 lorsque des études ont montré que les rayons gamma étaient particulièrement concentrés à environ 10 milliards d'années-lumière dans la direction des constellations Hercules et Corona Borealis.
F I N .
Cosmic Record Holders: The 12 Biggest Objects in the Universe.
October 04, 2019.
By Adam Mann - Live Science Contributor
The universe is a big place, and it's full of big things. Planets, stars, galaxies and clusters of galaxies extend upward on ever-more-massive scales. Here we marvel at some of the record holders in different cosmic categories, perhaps feeling humbled by the universe's ability to produce entities of incredible size and grandeur.
1). Largest exoplanet: GQ Lupi b
(Image credit: ESO)
Astronomers weren't sure what to make of the mysterious GQ Lupi b when it was first discovered in 2005. Orbiting a young star around two and a half times farther than Pluto is from the sun, the companion object seemed to be either a planet or a brown dwarf, which is actually a type of small star. Subsequent observations have yet to clear up the confusion, but the best estimates suggest GQ Lupi b has a radius around 3.5 times that of Jupiter, meaning that if it is an exo-planet, it's the largest ever found.
2). Largest star: UY Scuti
(Image credit: Philip Park/CC by SA 3.0)
UY Scuti is a hypergiant star with a radius that's around 1,700 times larger than the sun, making it the biggest known star in the universe. If someone were to place UY Scuti at the center of the solar system, its edge would extend just beyond the orbit of Jupiter. Gas and dust streaming from the star would extend even farther out, beyond the orbit of Pluto, or around 400 times the Earth-sun distance.
3). Largest Nebula: The Tarantula Nebula
(Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/L.Townsley et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/JPL/PSU/L.Townsley et al.)
Both the largest known nebula and most active star-forming region in our local galactic neighborhood, the Tarantula Nebula stretches for more than 1,800 light-years at its longest span. Also known as 30 Doradus, the object is located 170,000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy that orbits our Milky Way. Rather than a killer arachnid, this Tarantula is a stellar nursery — within its beautiful folds of gas and dust young stars are being born.
4). Largest empty spot: Supervoid in Eridanus
(Image credit: Bill Saxton/NRAO/AUI/NSF/NASA)
In 2004, astronomers noticed a gigantic region of empty space in maps created by NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite, which scanned in exquisite detail the cosmic microwave background, or the leftover radiation from the Big Bang. The spot, which spans 1.8 billion light-years across, according to Vice, is strangely devoid of stars, gas, dust and even dark matter. While they have seen previous voids, researchers remain baffled as to how exactly one of this size and scale formed.
5). Largest galaxy: IC 1101
(Image credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Space Telescope)
Our Milky Way galaxy is around 100,000 light-years across, but that's fairly average for a spiral galaxy. In comparison, the largest known galaxy, called IC 1101, is 50 times larger and about 2,000 times more massive than our galactic home. Stretching for an impressive 5.5 million light-years, IC 1101 is so big that, if placed where the Milky Way is now, its edge would reach past our nearest galactic neighbor, Andromeda.
6). Largest black hole: TON 618
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Supermassive black holes are thought to lurk in the center of every galaxy and can clock in at many millions of times the mass of the sun. But the biggest known black hole can be found powering a distant quasar — gigantic objects in the early universe spewing out insane amounts of radiation. This one, known as TON 618, has an estimated mass of 66 billion suns, according to a statement.
7). Largest galactic farts: Fermi Bubbles
(Image credit: SARAO/Oxford)
In 2010, astronomers using the Fermi space telescope discovered colossal structures emerging from the Milky Way. These massive blobs, which can only be seen in certain wavelengths of light, are a towering 25,000 light-years tall (a quarter of the Milky Way's width). Researchers believe the bubbles are the result of an ancient feeding frenzy that our galaxy's central black hole experienced, resulting in enormous belches of energy.
8). Largest single object: Protocluster SPT2349-56
(Image credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser)
Back when the universe was only a tenth of its current age, 14 galaxies began crashing together and forming the most massive known gravitationally bound cosmic object, protocluster SPT2349-56. Squeezed together in a space that's only about three times as big as our Milky Way galaxy, this megamerger will eventually combine into a single galaxy weighing 10 trillion times the mass of the sun. Additional observations have revealed that around 50 additional galaxies surround the structure, which will settle into a gigantic object known as a galactic cluster, in which many galaxies orbit one another.
9). Largest galactic collection: Shapley Supercluster
(Image credit: ESA; Planck Collaboration/Rosat/Digitised Sky Survey)
Astronomer Harlow Shapley discovered a colossal collection of galaxies in the 1930s that now bears his name. Containing more than 8,000 galaxies and with a mass of more than 10 million billion times that of the sun, the Shapley Supercluster is the largest structure in the local universe, according to the European Space Agency.
10). Largest supercluster: Laniakea Supercluster
(Crédit d'image: Andrew Z. Colvin / CC par SA 4.0)
Notre Voie lactée n'est qu'un petit membre d'une collection gargantuesque de collections de galaxies connue sous le nom de Laniakea Supercluster. Bien qu'il n'ait pas de frontières formelles, les astronomes estiment qu'il contient environ 100 000 galaxies avec une masse totale d'environ 100 millions de milliards de fois celle du soleil, et s'étend sur plus de 520 millions d'années-lumière.
11). La plus grande collection de quasars : Huge-LQG
(Crédit image: ESA / Hubble & NASA)
Les objets lointains super brillants propulsés par un trou noir connus sous le nom de quasars sont déjà très grands. Mais parfois, les quasars peuvent se regrouper en grappes, la plus grande étant nommée avec imagination le Huge-LQG (pour Huge Large Quasar Group). Contenant 73 quasars et une masse estimée à 6,1 quintillions (c'est-à-dire un 1 suivi de 18 zéros) de soleils, la collection cosmique colossale est estimée à 4 milliards d'années-lumière à sa plus grande envergure, selon The Atlantic.
12). La plus grande chose de l'univers: la Grande Muraille d'Hercule-Corona Borealis
(Crédit image: ESO / L. Calçada)
En cartographiant les emplacements des sursauts gamma - des explosions fugitives mais puissantes qui se produisent quand une étoile massive meurt - les astronomes ont découvert ce qui est souvent considéré comme la plus grande entité connue dans le cosmos: la Grande Muraille Hercules-Corona Borealis. L'objet mesure 10 milliards d'années-lumière et pourrait contenir des milliards de galaxies. La Grande Muraille a été découverte pour la première fois en 2013 lorsque des études ont montré que les rayons gamma étaient particulièrement concentrés à environ 10 milliards d'années-lumière dans la direction des constellations Hercules et Corona Borealis.
F I N .
