Massive 'Extragalactic Structure' Found Lurking Behind The Milky Way

Scientists have found a giant extragalactic structure hiding in an unexplored region of space, situated far beyond the Milky Way's centre.

This region is known as the zone of avoidance and appears as a blank spot in our skies, making up for 10-20% of the night sky. We are not able to see it with standard light telescopes but the Milky Way's center blocks our view of the same.

The Milky Way's center is densely packed with stars, dust, and other cosmic matter. Owing to this, light from the zone of avoidance gets scattered even before reaching the Earth's telescopes.

Galdeano et al. / ESO

Peeking into the zone of avoidance

Scientists have been able to peek into the zone of avoidance with telescopes that can detect infrared radiation - a type of energy invisible to human eyes, but strong enough to pass through dense clouds of gas and dust.

After infrared surveys of the zone of avoidance, scientists have found evidence of thousands of individual galaxies in the region. Even then, there's very little we knew about the scale of structures situated there.

Also read: Largest Gas Cloud Discovered In Space Is 20 Times Bigger Than Milky Way Galaxy

But now, scientists have managed to combine data from multiple infrared sources to reveal the most giant structure to be spotted in the zone of avoidance, according to a study published on the preprint database arXiv.org. The study is currently awaiting peer review.

NASA

According to the study, the zone of avoidance is about 3 billion light-years away from Earth. And it seems that a large cluster of galaxies are held together by a shared centre of gravity.

Also read: Scientists Find Remains Of Unknown Galaxy That Was Consumed By Milky Way

Based on information derived from the VVV Survey (that uses the Visible and Infrared Survey Survey Telescope for Astronomy in Chile), the authors found evidence of at least 58 galaxies bundled together in a small plot.

NASA

Galaxy clusters can host hundreds of thousands of galaxies in a small space. Even then, it's difficult to map the new cluster because of all that stands in the way. Observations made using the James Webb Space Telescope could improve our understanding of the same in the near-future.

What do you think about this giant structure found beneath the Milky Way? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.

References

Specktor, B. (2022, November 13). Scientists discover massive ¡°extragalactic structure¡± behind the Milky Way. Space.com. https://www.space.com/zone-of-avoidance-giant-structure