U1.11 is a

large quasar group A large quasar group (LQG) is a collection of quasars (a form of supermassive black hole active galactic nuclei) that form what are thought to constitute the largest astronomical structures in the observable universe. LQGs are thought to be prec ...

located in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

s of Leo and

Virgo Virgo may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Virgo (film), a 1970 Egyptian film * Virgo (character), several Marvel Comics characters * Virgo Asmita, a character in the manga ''Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas'' * ''Virgo'' (album), by Virgo Four, ...

. It is one of the largest LQG's known, with the estimated maximum diameter of 780 Mpc (2.2 billion

light-year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by the International Astr ...

s) and contains 38

quasar A quasar ( ) is an extremely Luminosity, luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. The emission from an AGN is powered by accretion onto a supermassive black hole with a mass rangi ...

s. It was discovered in 2011 during the course of the

Sloan Digital Sky Survey The Sloan Digital Sky Survey or SDSS is a major multi-spectral imaging and spectroscopic redshift survey using a dedicated 2.5-m wide-angle optical telescope at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, United States. The project began in 2000 a ...

. Until the discovery of the Huge-LQG in November 2012, it was the largest known structure in the universe, beating

Clowes–Campusano LQG University of Central Lancashire">UCLan'' --> The Clowes–Campusano LQG (CCLQG; also called LQG 3 and U1.28) is a large quasar group, consisting of 34 quasars and measuring about 2 billion light-years across. It is one of the List of largest known ...

's 20-year record as largest known structure at the time of its discovery.

Characteristics

The structure is located approximately 2° away from the Clowes-Campusano LQG (CCLQG). It is at

redshift In physics, a redshift is an increase in the wavelength, and corresponding decrease in the frequency and photon energy, of electromagnetic radiation (such as light). The opposite change, a decrease in wavelength and increase in frequency and e ...

z = 1.11, hence its name, corresponding to a distance of approximately 8.8 billion light years away. It is adjacent to the CCLQG, and is relatively close to U1.54, another LQG. It is composed of 38 quasars, and may suggest the evolution of a large galaxy filament.

Cosmological principle

According to the

cosmological principle In modern physical cosmology, the cosmological principle is the notion that the spatial distribution of matter in the universe is uniformly isotropic and homogeneous when viewed on a large enough scale, since the forces are expected to act equa ...

, the random distribution of

matter In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic pa ...

and

energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

within the different parts of the universe must be approximately homogeneous and isotropic, and that random overdensities of these objects must be small if projected on a large enough scale. Yadav ''et al'' projected that the maximum structural sizes was somewhere around 260 h/Mpc, while others gave values of 70-130 h/Mpc. More recent calculations suggest values within 370 Mpc. However, U1.11 was twice as large as the presiding scale, and other structures are found that were larger than the said scale. (Some structures exceed the scale by a factor of 8, such as

Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall The Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall (HCB) or simply the Great Wall is a galaxy filament that is the List of largest cosmic structures, largest known structure in the observable universe, measuring approximately 10 billion Light-year, light- ...

.) Given also its proximity to the Huge-LQG, CCLQG and U1.54, it will be a big contradiction to the modern cosmological model.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:U1.11 Galaxy filaments Quasars Large quasar groups Large-scale structure of the cosmos Leo (constellation) Virgo (constellation) 20110831