The discovery of the Big Ring, a colossal structure 9.2 billion light-years away with a diameter of 1.3 billion light-years challenges existing cosmological theories. Along with the previously discovered Giant Arc, these structures, located in the same cosmic neighborhood, contest the Cosmological Principle. (Artist’s concept.) Credit: SciTechDaily.com
A Big Cosmological Mystery
Discovery of a second ultra-large structure in distant space further challenges what we understand about the universe.
The discovery of a second ultra-large structure in the remote universe has further challenged some of the basic assumptions about cosmology.
The Big Ring on the Sky is 9.2 billion light-years from Earth. It has a diameter of about 1.3 billion light-years, and a circumference of about four billion light-years. If we could step outside and see it directly, the diameter of the Big Ring would need about 15 full Moons to cover it.
It is the second ultra-large structure discovered by University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) PhD student Alexia Lopez who, two years ago, also discovered the Giant Arc on the Sky. Remarkably, the Big Ring and the Giant Arc, which is 3.3 billion light-years across, are in the same cosmological neighborhood – they are seen at the same distance, at the same cosmic time, and are only 12 degrees apart on the sky.
“Neither of these two ultra-large structures is easy to explain in our current understanding of the universe.”
— UCLan PhD student Alexia Lopez
Alexia said: “Neither of these two ultra-large structures is easy to explain in our current understanding of the universe. And their ultra-large sizes, distinctive shapes, and cosmological proximity must surely be telling us something important – but what exactly?
“One possibility is that the Big Ring could be related to Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs). BAOs arise from oscillations in the early universe and today should appear, statistically at least, as spherical shells in the arrangement of galaxies. However, detailed analysis of the Big Ring revealed it is not really compatible with the BAO explanation: the Big Ring is too large and is not spherical.”
An artistic impression of what the Big Ring (shown in blue) and Giant Arc (shown in red) would look like in the sky. Background image credit: Stellarium. Credit: UCLan
Other explanations might be needed, explanations that depart from what is generally considered to be the standard understanding in cosmology. One possibility might be a different theory – Conformal Cyclic Cosmology (CCC) – which was proposed by Nobel-prize winner Sir Roger Penrose. Rings in the universe could conceivably be a signal of CCC.
“We could expect maybe one exceedingly large structure in all our observable universe. Yet, the Big Ring and the Giant Arc are two huge structures and are even cosmological neighbours, which is extraordinarily fascinating.”
— UCLan PhD student Alexia Lopez
Another explanation might be the effect of cosmic strings passing through. Cosmic strings are filamentary ‘topological defects’ of great size, which could have been created in the early universe. Another Nobel-prize winner, Jim Peebles, recently hypothesised that cosmic strings could have a role in the origin of some other peculiarities in the large-scale distribution of galaxies.
Furthermore, the Big Ring challenges the Cosmological Principle, as did the Giant Arc previously. And if the Big Ring and the Giant Arc together form a still larger structure then the challenge to the Cosmological Principle becomes even more compelling.
The Big Ring is centred close to 0 on the x-axis, spanning roughly -650 to +650 on the x-axis (equivalent to 1.3 billion light years). Credit: UCLan
Such large structures – and there are others found by other cosmologists – challenge our idea of what an ‘average’ region of space looks like. They exceed the size limit of what is considered theoretically viable, and they pose potential challenges to the Cosmological Principle.
Alexia said: “The Cosmological Principle assumes that the part of the universe we can see is viewed as a ‘fair sample’ of what we expect the rest of the universe to be like. We expect matter to be evenly distributed everywhere in space when we view the universe on a large scale, so there should be no noticeable irregularities above a certain size.
“Cosmologists calculate the current theoretical size limit of structures to be 1.2 billion light-years, yet both of these structures are much larger – the Giant Arc is almost three times bigger and the Big Ring’s circumference is comparable to the Giant Arc’s length.
“From current cosmological theories we didn’t think structures on this scale were possible. We could expect maybe one exceedingly large structure in all our observable universe. Yet, the Big Ring and the Giant Arc are two huge structures and are even cosmological neighbours, which is extraordinarily fascinating.”
“This data we’re looking at is so far away that it has taken half the universe’s life to get to us, so from a time when the universe was about 1.8 times smaller than it is now.”
— UCLan PhD student Alexia Lopez
The Big Ring appears as an almost perfect ring on the sky, but Alexia’s further analysis reveals that it has more of a coil shape, like a cork-screw, that is aligned face-on with Earth. The Giant Arc, which is approximately 1/15th the radius of the observable universe, shows as an enormous, nearly symmetrical, crescent of galaxies in the remote universe. It is twice the size of the striking Sloan Great Wall of galaxies and clusters that is seen in the relatively nearby universe.
UCLan PhD student Alexia Lopez. Credit: UCLan
“The Big Ring and Giant Arc are the same distance from us, near the constellation of Boötes the Herdsman, meaning they existed at the same cosmic time when the universe was only half of its present age” commented Alexia. “They are also in the same region of sky, at only 12 degrees apart when observing the night sky.
“Identifying two extraordinary ultra-large structures in such close configuration raises the possibility that together they form an even more extraordinary cosmological system.
“This data we’re looking at is so far away that it has taken half the universe’s life to get to us, so from a time when the universe was about 1.8 times smaller than it is now. The Big Ring and the Giant Arc, both individually and together, gives us a big cosmological mystery as we work to understand the universe and its development.”
Alexia, together with adviser Dr Roger Clowes, both from UCLan’s Jeremiah Horrocks Institute, and collaborator Gerard Williger from the University of Louisville, USA, discovered the new structure by looking at absorption lines in the spectra of quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).
Using the same method that led to the discovery of the Giant Arc, they observed the intervening Magnesium-II (or MgII – it means the atom has lost an electron) absorption systems back-lit by quasars, which are remote super-luminous galaxies. These very-distant, very-bright, quasars act like giant lamps shining a spotlight through distant, but much fainter, intervening galaxies that otherwise would go unseen.
Alexia presented her findings on the Big Ring at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) on January 10. The AAS invites researchers with potentially ground-breaking findings to share their work with the global astronomy community.
This isn’t remotely extraordinary or strange in Plasma electromagnetic Cosmology. See Dr. Peratt’s book.
The extraordinary claim requiring extraordinary evidence was always the Big Bang and separately,a thematically, black hole (classical) theories, General Relativity, and of course the now debunked Dark Universe and String hypotheses which all failed so spectacularly without either LHC, empirical, lab, or JWST support. The fact that CMB was already debunked by the Herouni scope and paper and has been covered up is one of the biggest sham scams in science history. The fact that doppler redshift failed according to Gaia DR2 data and the mainstream didn’t correct course in 2018 despite direct empiricism of intrinsic redshift is also one of the greatest hoodwinks in science history.
In the words of Optimus Prime “I rise, you fall.” -PEMC (est. 1600 AD, by Gilbert et al.)
If it is an artificial structure that just recently came into existence then it could be some type of technology made by an alien civilization. That wants to communicate and bring us into there place and time without there being paradoxes in time or distance. It is like an energy sphere bringing two points together in time.
The big ring & arc are simply artifacts of where the chief Anunnaki scientist’s stir stick & micropipete dosed the muon buffer beaker with baryon catalyst.
I hope this article was writen by an LLM. The sentence structure is horrible. It’s like somebody just slapped a bunch of information together and glued them together with quotes from the AAS.
We humans insist on seeing patterns that we can recognize in just about everything we observe. That is especially true of objects we believe are 10 billion light years distant.
So far, most cosmology and so-called “astrophysics” theories are best guess attempts to define the impossible. The more strident the voices on the side of one theory about the genesis of the universe become, the more likely the probability is that that theory is unsupported by factual data. This can be a reaction to the human need to make the unknown bearable by assigning magical properties to it, such as the power of “Science!” in the war against ignorance and mortality.
Interesting that we humans can only visualize a large configuration within space and time by calling it a structure in the shape of a ring or corkscrew.
That’s just a Sol Ring from MTG.
I literally just saved that image to make a proxy on CardConjurer
Looks like something from the game Halo… or actually it looks more like It’s a Mass Relay from Mass Effect. Be careful people we don’t want the Reapers to come back and invade the Galaxy again. Every 50,000 years the Reapers return to “Harvest” the organic life that has signaled they are ready to be harvested and turned into Reapers. The cycle cannot be broken. That pattern has repeated itself more times than you can fathom, organic civilizations rise, evolve, advance, and at the apex of the glory they are extinguished. The proteins were not the first. They did not create the citadel, they did not forge the Mass Relays… They merely “Found Them”
How does 15 full moons equal 1.3 billion light years???
How could the diameter be over a billion light years & need 15 full moons to cover it???
That is the first thing I thought when reading this. The diameter of the moon is roughly 2,160 miles. 15 of these is clearly not even a fraction of 1 light year. Makes no sense. However I’m just a amateur universe hobbyist if you will, so there could be factors I’m unknowingly missing.
The diameter of the moon is roughly 2160 miles. Yet it perfectly covers the Sun to create total eclipses. That is because the sun is (conveniently) 400 times the diameter of the moon and 400 times as far away.
“[The moon] perfectly covers the Sun to create total eclipses. That is because the sun is (conveniently) 400 times the diameter of the moon and 400 times as far away.”
Suspicious. Isn’t it?
And aliens, or aliens with weaponized telepathy, are suspiciously absent from 21st Century dialogue… until recent history.
I expect the “15moons” r e ferscto it as seen from earth. Which is indeed huge
It is about angles not diameters, if only you have calculated.
If in stepping outside, the intent is that to a viewer it’s like 15 full moons; at what distance???
Is the Ring solid
I left one.
Is there some sort of life ,
On Jupiter?
Wouldn’t it give off some
Gas like co2?
Just so you know; Jupiter is a gas giant planet, it doesn’t even have a solid surface.
This is a weird article.
15 moons next to each other is barely a fraction of a light year, let alone 1.3 million.
And if the diameter is 1.3 billion light years and the circumference is about four billion light years, it contradicts the usual relationship between the two (circumference = π * diameter).
Jackass. You said about 4 billion light years circumference. Circumference of 1.3 billion light years is literally 4.08 billion. Don’t use about when referring to pi.
The moon question is simple,imagine at the time of the eclipse.our moon nearly covers our sun at only 93 million miles away so at a distance of 93 billion light years away one of our moon would cover many suns at that distance.now imagine 15 moons in the sky and how much that would hide of the sky at 93 billion light years away.it would encommpass quite a large portion of our night sky.
BAO=Big A** Objects
Conceptually interesting conversation.
Scale definition is necessary for observational schematics, other structures must certainly exist within wider scope.
Conceptually interesting.
Other structures certainly must exist in
wider scope.
I found us to be safe once…now here’s my question;, i moved something around in the brick apartment, I had tarot foil cards and a books made by Pamela cailoux, I love my science yet, could we find another safe spot. Cause I moved them and replies we r not safe anymore. I put this tools back it wasn’t same. They said we wasn’t safe anymore. I remember the orange heat I remember this spot hwre where I’m at. In the brick house.
I was Here before I swear, this is . Yet if I find it once we are safe right so how could my movement tell me we are not is because the rotation of? Or the material of?
Mention of the Annunaki gives me hope, or possibly dismay, that others recognize the vast existence of life beyond what man, as we have come to know him/her; far beyond the ability to conceptualize true existence/existential beings.
One there is a huge difference between 1.3 bullion light years and 15 full moons… so while I wouldn’t be shocked that one existed, also they need to get the story straight
The moon is much closer. The ring is 9 billion light years away. The article says if you walked outside and could see the ring – meaning how big it looks in the earth’s night sky. It would appear to us as an object 15 moons wide, even from 9 billion light years away.
I wonder if this is the tunnel of light we pass through when we die, or our souls leave our bodies. Similar to what people describe in a NDE.
The tunnel of light is the visual effect and theatre of being captured-into the alien technology of the Sinus Medii region on the moon base
I wonder if this is the tunnel of light we pass through when we die, or our souls leave our bodies. Similar to what people describe in a NDE. Not a duplicate comment, so post this please
It’s part of a smiley face someone drew on our terrarium
Alexia is such a cutie with a lovely smile. Id totally hit…it off with her.
Also keep it professional do not criticize on wording or the level of intelligence one is at ,grow up dude hes like 4 or 5 comments below me
Alexia is such a cutie with a lovely smile. Id totally hit…it off with her.
The ring is my cock ring
Thank you for sharing this with greater society. I wish I knew enough to make a worthy or debatable comment but at the very least I feel a thank you is due for all the time people that work in this field spend gazing at the night sky discovering new things and hopefully noticing anything and everything we need to know in advance that can keep us all safe here on our lovely planet earth. Please tell me we don’t have to worry about being in the way of one of these giant figures because if they are that big then they must travel beyond our imagination in speed and I just hope one of them doesn’t collide with earth like my hand killing a tiny ant. Robert in Seattle
The universe is amazing and I’m sure it’s full of things we cannot even imagine and maybe should consider that it’s futile to put finite description on that which is infinite PS: the coring comment was so immature. What are you even doing reading this? There is no way to speak to a lady grow up.
To edit my own comment, it was cock ring comment and that’s no way to speak to you or about a lady
Change our conceptions of the universe? How? This is a PR handout stunt for a researcher who is amazing because she is a woman (??) not a science article and written by someone who failed grade school – another bad joke from SCITECH NEWS.
As Christians, We know what this is. Jesus Christ is coming soon for His bride. It’s His promise that’s as pure as what God originally intended for marriage and the sanctity of marriage.
Testing, can anyone hear me? This is the ring speaking.
Could be the most ancient of galaxy resonants, this is what formation of a galaxy is as the energy is depleting the oldest stage of galaxy.