List of largest cosmic structures

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An image of the massive galaxy cluster MACS J0454.1-0300.

This is a list of the largest cosmic structures so far discovered. The unit of measurement used is the light-year (distance traveled by light in one Julian year; approximately 9.46 trillion kilometres).

This list includes superclusters, galaxy filaments and large quasar groups (LQGs). The list characterizes each structure based on its longest dimension.

Note that this list refers only to coupling of matter with defined limits, and not the coupling of matter in general (as per example the cosmic microwave background, which fills the entire universe). All structures in this list are defined as to whether their presiding limits have been identified.

There are some speculations about this list:

  • The Zone of Avoidance, or the part of the sky occupied by the Milky Way, blocks out light to several structures, making their limits imprecisely identified.
  • Some structures are far too distant to be seen even with the most powerful telescopes. Some factors are included to explain the structure (like gravitational lensing and redshift data).
  • Some structures have no defined limits, or endpoints. All structures are believed to be part of the cosmic web, which is a conclusive idea. Most structures are overlapped by nearby galaxies, creating a problem of how to carefully define the structure's limit.

List of largest structures[]

List of the largest cosmic structures
Structure name
(year discovered) 		Maximum dimension
(in light-years) 		Notes
Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall (2014)[1] 9,700,000,000[2][3][4] Discovered through gamma-ray burst mapping. Existence as a structure is disputed.[5][6]
Giant GRB Ring (2015)[7] 5,600,000,000[7] Discovered through gamma-ray burst mapping. Largest-known regular formation in the observable universe.[7]
Huge-LQG (2012-2013) 4,000,000,000[8][9][10] Decoupling of 73 quasars. Largest-known large quasar group and the first structure found to exceed 3 billion light-years.
"The Giant Arc" (2021) 3,300,000,000[11] Located 9.2 billion light years away.
U1.11 LQG (2011) 2,500,000,000 Involves 38 quasars. Adjacent to the Clowes-Campusano LQG.
Clowes–Campusano LQG (1991) 2,000,000,000 Grouping of 34 quasars. Discovered by Roger Clowes and Luis Campusano.
Sloan Great Wall (2003) 1,380,000,000 Discovered through the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
South Pole Wall (2020) 1,370,000,000[12][13][14][15][16][17] The largest contiguous feature in the local volume and comparable to the Sloan Great Wall (see above) at half the distance. It is located at the celestial South Pole.
(Theoretical limit) 1,200,000,000 Structures larger than this size are incompatible with the cosmological principle according to all estimates. However, whether the existence of these structures itself constitutes a refutation of the cosmological principle is still unclear.[18]
BOSS Great Wall (BGW) (2016) 1,000,000,000 Structure consisting of 4 superclusters of galaxies. The mass and volume exceeds the amount of the Sloan Great Wall.[19]
Perseus–Pegasus Filament (1985) 1,000,000,000 This galaxy filament contains the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster.
Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex (1987) 1,000,000,000 Contains the Milky Way, and is the first galaxy filament to be discovered. (The first LQG was found earlier in 1982.) A new report in 2014 confirms the Milky Way as a member of the Laniakea Supercluster.
Caelum Supercluster 910,000,000[citation needed] The Caelum Supercluster is a collection of over 550,000 galaxies. It is the largest of all galaxy superclusters.[citation needed]
CfA2 Great Wall (1989) 750,000,000 Also known as the Coma Wall.
Saraswati Supercluster 652,000,000[20] The Saraswati Supercluster consists of 43 massive galaxy clusters, which include and .
620,000,000
Horologium-Reticulum Supercluster (2005) 550,000,000 Also known as the Horologium Supercluster.
Laniakea Supercluster (2014) 520,000,000 Galaxy supercluster in which Earth is located.
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 11 500,000,000 Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash.[21][22]
Hyperion proto-supercluster (2018) 489,000,000 The largest and earliest known proto– supercluster.
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 12 480,000,000 Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash.[21][22]
Newman LQG (U1.54) 450,000,000
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 5 430,000,000 Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash.[21][22]
Tesch–Engels LQG 420,000,000
Draco Supercluster 410,000,000[citation needed]
Great Attractor 400,000,000
Shapley Supercluster 400,000,000 First identified by Harlow Shapley as a cloud of galaxies in 1930, it was not identified as a structure until 1989.
Komberg–Kravstov–Lukash LQG 3 390,000,000 Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash.[21][22]
380,000,000
Lynx–Ursa Major Filament (LUM Filament) 370,000,000
Sculptor Wall 370,000,000 Also known as the Southern Great Wall.
Pisces-Cetus Supercluster 350,000,000
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 2 350,000,000 Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash.[21][22]
z=2.38 filament around protocluster 330,000,000
Webster LQG 320,000,000 First LQG (Large Quasar Group) discovered.[22][23]
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 8 310,000,000 Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash.[21][22]
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 1 280,000,000 Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash.[21][22]
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 6 260,000,000 Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash.[21][22]
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 7 250,000,000 Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash.[21][22]
SCL @ 1338+27 228,314,341 One of most distant known superclusters.
Komberg–Kravtsov–Lukash LQG 9 200,000,000 Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash.[21][22]
SSA22 Protocluster 200,000,000 Giant collection of Lyman-alpha blobs.
200,000,000
Komberg-Kravtsov-Lukash LQG 10 180,000,000 Discovered by Boris V. Komberg, Andrey V. Kravstov and Vladimir N. Lukash.[21][22]
Ophiuchus Supercluster 170,000,000[citation needed]
Virgo Supercluster 110,000,000 A part of the Laniakea Supercluster (see above). It also contains the Milky Way Galaxy, which contains the Solar System where Earth orbits the Sun.
Reported for Reference.

List of largest voids[]

Voids are immense spaces between galaxy filaments and other large-scale structures. Technically they are not structures. They are vast spaces which contain very few or no galaxies. They are theorized to be caused by quantum fluctuations during the early formation of the universe.

A list of the largest voids so far discovered is below. Each is ranked according to its longest dimension.

List of the largest voids
Void name/designation Maximum dimension
(in light-years) 		Notes
2,953,225,163 One of largest known voids, containing 109,066 galaxies.[24]
KBC Void 2,000,000,000 Proposed void containing the Milky Way galaxy and Local Group as an explanation for the discrepancy in the Hubble constant. Existence is still disputed.[25][26]
1,846,519,147 [24]
1,671,490,791 [24]
1,663,480,400 [24]
1,610,656,174 [24]
1,515,953,518 [24]
Giant Void 1,300,000,000 Also known as Canes Venatici Supervoid
1,277,755,268 [24]
1,110,632,934 [24]
1,095,127,478 [24]
998,539,640 [24]
984,084,406 [24]
944,684,761 [24]
938,657,398 [24]
934,162,968 [24]
917,939,969 [24]
899,557,817 [24]
891,456,102 [24]
887,587,892 [24]
880,000,000 Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
865,252,729 [24]
848,710,096 [24]
846,544,421 [24]
843,061,075 [24]
841,332,448 [24]
827,601,280 [24]
812,324,133 [24]
805,755,351 [24]
804,105,002 [24]
796,818,677 [24]
792,000,000 Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
789,643,245 [24]
746,000,000 Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
684,000,000
652,000,000
567,240,000 Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
564,000,000 Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
557,460,000 Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
554,465,200 This suspected void ranged 100 degrees across the sky, and has shown up on other surveys as several separate voids. [27]
554,200,000 Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
521,600,000
521,600,000
Eridanus Supervoid 489,000,000
(most likely value)		 A recent analysis of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) in 2007 has found an irregularity of the temperature fluctuation of the cosmic microwave background within the vicinity of the constellation Eridanus with analysis found to be 70 microkelvins cooler than the average CMB temperature. One speculation is that a void could cause the cold spot, with the possible size on the left. However, it may be as large as 1 billion light-years, close to the size of the Giant Void.
489,000,000
489,000,000
489,000,000 Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
469,440,000
456,400,000 Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
456,000,000
456,000,000
443,360,000 Catalogued by R. Brent Tully
423,800,000
423,800,000
414,002,857 [24]
391,200,000
391,200,000
391,200,000
378,160,000
Southern Local Supervoid 365,120,000
358,600,000
358,600,000
358,600,000
358,600,000
358,600,000
358,600,000
342,287,675.8 [24]
342,100,000
Northern Local Supervoid 339,202,240 Virgo Supercluster, Coma Supercluster, Perseus-Pisces Supercluster, , Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster, Sculptor Supercluster, form a sheet between the Northern Local Supervoid and the Southern Local Supervoid. The Hercules Supercluster separates the Northern Local Void from the Boötes Void. The Perseus-Pisces Supercluster and Pegasus Supercluster form a sheet separate the Northern Local Void and Southern Local Void from the .[28]
Boötes void 330,000,000 Also known as The Giant Nothing
328,000,000
252,333,851 [24]
217,437,333.3
215,262,960
210,683,729.8 [24]
198,302,848
Local void 195,693,600 One of the nearest voids known and contains 3 galaxies.
183,299,672
177,102,708
166,399,560
163,078,000
146,770,200
145,139,420
142,856,328
141,877,860
139,920,924
135,028,584
131,440,868
130,462,400 [29] The Perseus-Pisces Supercluster and form a sheet separate the Northern Local Void and Southern Local Void from the Pegasus Void.[28]
128,831,620
127,200,840
117,416,160
117,416,160
116,111,536
113,502,288
113,502,288
109,588,416
108,718,666.7 Located just behind the galaxy concentration Eridanus-Fornax-Dorado.
104,369,920
104,369,920
104,135,087.7 [24]
102,739,140
99,151,424
97,846,800
93,932,928
90,671,368
89,040,588
83,169,780
83,169,780
81,539,000
81,539,000
72,080,476
69,471,228
68,818,916
66,209,668
63,600,420
61,969,640

See also[]

References[]

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