What is the cosmic web?

The cosmic web is a structure of superclusters of galaxies surrounded by dark matter, visible through various observation methods.

What is dark matter's role in the universe?

Dark matter, comprising 90% of the universe's mass, plays a crucial role in forming and structuring the cosmic web.

The Shapley Supercluster is the largest known supercluster of galaxies, spanning 400 million light years and gravitationally bound.

Lyman-alpha blobs are believed to be precursors to galaxy clusters, potentially forming new galaxies within the next 100 million years.

CD galaxies are the largest in the universe, formed through galaxy mergers, with examples like IC 1102 being 6 million light years across.

Dark matter, comprising 90% of the universe's mass, is vital for the structure of the cosmic web, a colossal entity originating from the Big Bang and continuously expanding, housing all original matter.
CD galaxies, like IC 1102, are the largest in the universe, reaching up to 20 million light years across through galaxy mergers, while radio lobes, such as in galaxy 3C 236, are even larger structures powered by supermassive black holes emitting radio waves.

What is the cosmic web?
The cosmic web is a structure of superclusters of galaxies surrounded by dark matter, visible through various observation methods.
What is dark matter's role in the universe?
Dark matter, comprising 90% of the universe's mass, plays a crucial role in forming and structuring the cosmic web.
What is the Shapley Supercluster?
The Shapley Supercluster is the largest known supercluster of galaxies, spanning 400 million light years and gravitationally bound.
What are Lyman-alpha blobs?
Lyman-alpha blobs are believed to be precursors to galaxy clusters, potentially forming new galaxies within the next 100 million years.
What are CD galaxies?
CD galaxies are the largest in the universe, formed through galaxy mergers, with examples like IC 1102 being 6 million light years across.

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The universe is vast and filled with gargantuan objects that are hard for humans to comprehend due to their immense size scales.
Bigger objects in space do not necessarily equate to being better, often leading to a shorter lifespan.
The cosmic web, made up of superclusters of galaxies surrounded by dark matter, is considered the largest object in the universe.
Dark matter, an invisible substance that makes up 90% of the universe's mass, plays a crucial role in the cosmic web's structure.
The cosmic web is visible through methods like X-ray-emitting gas observation and gravitational lensing.
The cosmic web originated from the Big Bang and is continuously expanding, containing all the original matter created during that event.
The Shapley Supercluster, a massive collection of galaxies, is currently the largest known supercluster, spanning 400 million light years.
Superclusters of galaxies, like the Shapley Supercluster, are gravitationally bound and will stay together over time despite the universe's expansion.
Humans reside in a smaller supercluster complex, the local group, which is part of the larger Virgo Cluster.
Voids, vast regions devoid of galaxies, exist alongside superclusters in the cosmic web, with the Bootes void being one of the largest at 250 million light years across.

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Lyman-alpha blobs are believed to be precursors to galaxy clusters, potentially containing cocoons that will give rise to new galaxies.
These blobs are considered a unique, short-lived phase in galaxy formation, with many expected to collapse and form young galaxies within the next 100 million years.
The search for Lyman-alpha blobs is ongoing, with the anticipation of discovering more, possibly larger ones in the future.
Galaxies are described as gravitationally bound systems containing stars, gas, dust, and dark matter, with over 100 billion existing in the observable universe.
Galaxies vary in size from 10,000 to millions of light years across, with some being elliptically shaped like CD galaxies.
CD galaxies are the largest in the universe, with examples like IC 1102 being 6 million light years across, significantly larger than the Milky Way.
CD galaxies achieve their size through galaxy mergers, with the largest ones having masses up to 20 million light years across.
Radio lobes, even larger than galaxies, are structures emitting radio waves from supermassive black holes in quasars.
The largest known radio lobe, located in galaxy 3C 236, spans 40 million light years across and is powered by supermassive black holes.
Red hyper giants, like VY Canis Majoris, are the most powerful stars, with VY Canis Majoris being 2,000 times wider than the Sun and located 5,000 light years away in the constellation Canis Majoris.

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