Description

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Context

Astronomers have discovered Quipu, the largest known cosmic structure, spanning 1.3 billion light-years and reshaping our understanding of the universe's formation.

About Quipu

This superstructure has mass of 200 quadrillion solar masses and stretches over 1.3 billion light-years.
Superstructures: Extremely large structures containing groups of galaxy clusters and superclusters.
It is a recently discovered superstructure in which galaxies group together in clusters and clusters of clusters (superclusters).
It contains nearly 70 galactic superclusters.
It is the largest known structure in the universe in terms of length.
It is over 13,000 times the length of the Milky Way.
It is also hundreds of thousands of times more massive than a single galaxy.
Inspired by the Incan counting system of knotted cords, the structure mirrors its namesake with a long central filament and multiple branching filaments.
Despite its vast size, Quipu will not last forever. Scientists believe it will eventually break into smaller, collapsing units.
They describe it as a “transient configuration” that will change over time.
Studying Quipu may help refine cosmological models.
It could offer new insights into galaxy evolution and large-scale cosmic dynamics.

Effects of Superstructures:

Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB): Superstructures cause fluctuations in the CMB (relic radiation from Big Bang).
Hubble Constant: Superstructures distort accurate measurements of the Universe's expansion rate.
Distort sky images due to gravitational lensing (GL).
GL occurs when a massive object, like a superstructure, bends light from background sources.

Sources:

News.18

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q.What is "Quipu," the newly discovered structure in the universe?

1) A new type of black hole

2) The largest cosmic structure ever found

3) A newly discovered exoplanet

4) A distant supernova remnant

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(d) 4 only

Answer: (b)

Explanation

Quipu is a vast network of galaxy clusters and superclusters, spanning approximately 1.3 billion light-years. It is named after the Inca record-keeping system and represents the largest known cosmic structure, challenging existing models of the universe's large-scale formation.