Gravity forces extragalactic nebula that are comparatively penny-pinching together to form clusters , which in spell form superclusters between immense stretch of cosmic vacancy . But now there ’s an even bigger level of organization … and we have no idea how to explicate it .
In the contiguous aftermath of the Big Bang , the universe was basically flat , with only little variations in density as you go from place to lieu . Gravity went against that trend , as it brings dust and gas together to form stars and major planet , and those solar system then pull together to form galaxies . Obviously , the tightness of a beetleweed is far greater than that of nearly empty space , and that conflict becomes more marked as you compare clusters and superclusters with the rest of the world .
Still , for all these increasingly vast levels of organisation , the universe should still be fundamentally smooth , signify that no cosmic structure are great than a few hundred million promiscuous - years in length . That ’s why the uncovering of hyperclusters that are at least three billion light - age across represents such a huge cosmic mystery . These structure are n’t much , representing only about a 1 % sport in density from the rest of the universe , but that ’s still about twice the maximum possible compactness that our current theory would foretell for physical object at that scale .

So what ’s going on here ? Astrophysicists are n’t trusted , but some of the explanations are pretty exotic . Dark Energy Department could be a broker here – the presumption was that its dispersion is uniform throughout the existence , but if it ’s position in certain areas it might be able to push together subject to form these huge structures . Another possibility is that our agreement of gravity is uncompleted , and that we demand something even more ecumenical than Einstein ’s cosmopolitan relativity to explain how gravity works at such scale .
That said , there ’s a simpler account that can not be omit : this is all just a big mistake . There ’s no easy way to see something as large as hyperclusters , and our current observational technique rely on some potentially error - prostrate techniques . If nothing else , astronomers always have to dispense with having to see out of our own galaxy , and dust and whiz inside the milklike Way can becloud our power to see the residuum of the universe clear .
Efforts to confirm the universe of hyperclusters are presently afoot , and we ’ll hopefully have a good sense of their existence in the next few years . If they do exist , then that would be a truly immense discovery , particularly if it forces us to enlarge Einstein ’s general relativity theory . And , if nothing else , the universe will have found yet another way to make us feel cosmically peanut .

Physical Review LettersviaNew Scientist .
AstronomyAstrophysicsGeneral relativityPhysicsScienceSpace
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