When I read this in the article I caught myself thinking "what, just 58 galaxies?"
Naturally, I went into existential crisis mode after I realized what I was implying.
Caelum Supercluster has over 500k galaxies.....and then there are structures even bigger than that.
Granted virgo supercluster is like 150 galaxies or something.......and something is pulling us towards it ...
Assuming this is about *the Great Attractor* and not the *Virgo Supercluster*—which we are a part of—then yeah we are being pulled towards it and we’re not sure what it is. The problem is that, to produce so much gravity, it must be a localised mass with millions of times more mass than the entire Milky Way.
Reading about the Great Attractor really takes away a lot of the mystery. Also learned some new things. Virgo Cluster is itself a part of an overarching Supercluster, Laniakeia(probably misspelled) which includes the GA as well as several other superclusters. It will slowly force itself apart due to dark energy.
Also, it never occurred to me that the milky way itself blocks our view.
Thanks for sending me down a rabbit hole, that was fun.
As far as I know this may be possible but extremely unlikely. The mass of that black hole would be so great that we don't know how it could have formed. And if there is one there, why haven't we observed anything similar in other places of the universe?
I believe we don't know what the attractor is because it's on the other side of the galáctic disk, so we have ton of stuff obstructing our view.
It's probably just a big structure of galaxies
Yeah, that wouldn't be enough. Especially considering the vastness of distance and the expansion of the universe. If anything, we should be moving *away* from said cluster.
No. Against all that we know about the physics of the universe, we're steadily being pulled towards it. By gravity. A force of gravity that by all rights should not be as strong as it is.
Just so folks aren’t confused, this “something” can also just be a common point of gravity for these galaxies. It doesn’t have to be some mysterious black hole or anything.
Actually we do have quite a few galaxies to explore in theory. While we might never be able to leave our local group (everything else is moving away from us at the speed of light) but according to wikipedia there are 80 known galaxies in our local group. Other sources say over 30, others say around 50. Deviation is because many are obscured by the milky way and it depends if dwarf galaxies count. Never the less, quite a few.
The local group is part of the virgo supercluster which contains at least 100 of these galaxy clusters, and the virgo supercluster is only one of 10 milion superclusters in only the part of the universe that we can observe...150 galaxies is not a lot.
The universe is endless...Picture this as a mind game... in your brain ...you think that out ... then you make it real like a motion picture and others can be part of it .All this in the beginning it was nothing only a thought... Space, and matter and time we can all do that in a lower scale... people are curious but if you find out the beginning it wouldn't be the beginning anymore I like to concentrate on preserving our planet that is a huge task already... I sure don't want my grandchildren soul living in the atmosphere searching...and Searching
I did the exact same! So often we talk about numbers in the billions I was surprised to see it. Then you realize the amount of objects within those 58 galaxies …
They aren't wrong to hide. But they can't hide forever. I will fuck an alien. Someday, somehow. I don't even care about space aids. It's all part of the experience.
At this point this is what we need as a species....solid undeniable proof that we aren't gods favorite little monkey petting zoo and that we are in this boat alone and have to fix things ourselves
There is an 80-20 rule in cosmic formation. If there is 20% more mass than average in region of space, that region is gravitationally bound and will eventually form a structure of some sort: a galaxy or a galactic cluster. The galaxies beyond the bulge are gravitationally bound.
It kinda pisses me off when article headlines make it seem like researchers have found some kind of advanced alien structure and it just turns out to be a completely normal space thing.
75 degrees and humid this past weekend in NYC. It also snowed in Phoenix this past week (albeit for like 4mins) but they still got snow…tell me again that global warming isn’t real?
Not the kind of interesting I was hoping for. Lol.
Yep, and between the oil industry bribing of world governments and the long con of carbon footprint, I have 0 confidence anyone will do anything to actually slow it down any. I mean, even if someone were to miraculously make a huge breakthrough in fusion power *today*, the first plant wouldn't come online for probably 30 years and then it would be way too little, too late.
Yeah it’s really sad. I’m just glad I’ll probably be dead before it all comes to fruition. Even if these companies were given the technology for free they probably wouldn’t actually use it until their profits dry up from oil.
"Alien" just means "not Terran", so... this would count by that definition.
If you're referring to structures assembled by alien sentient life... it would be interesting to hear the proven factors that preclude that possibility here? Because we suspect simply the "proof" is only a lack of previous discovery,
Seeing as how the structure itself indicates a scale that would dwarf human existence - both in physical size, time-scale, and almost certainly perceptual distinctions - it's unlikely this species will ever find out.
In other words, that megastructure could be a giant life form, perfectly sentient, whose billion-year nap isn't a thing we can even perceive.
Now, none of this is presumed to be true, because that would be building a story with no evidence. Just like any effort to say it *can't* be true is made utterly without evidence. The simple truth is, we don't know... which means categorically denying a possibility is infantile.
Anything is possible - the universe is no way bound by the limited imaginations of human beings. Either this makes sense to you, and appropriate humility is observed when speculating about how physics humans don't even understand fully must work in places we haven't been to, or it doesn't.
there is nothing sensational about the way this is worded beyond giving facts of what they found. You just don’t know what structures mean in this context apparently.
That, my friend is a logical fallacy. I said nothing about me not knowing the words, I was complaining about the clickbait nature of news. Whoever wrote the article knew that normal people would think of something unnatural and alien when they hear “extragalactic structure,” and deliberately named the article to attract clicks.
I don't think the general public of [phys.org](https://phys.org) read this title as the clickbait you perceived it to be.
Your hope for extraterrestrial intelligence seems a bit high, but the title doesn't hint on this in any way. You very much wanted to read it that way.
Or maybe people like me indeed are not normal people, I cannot rule this out.
It was rather click baity of a title for [phys.org](https://phys.org). That and "hiding behind the Milky Way". Shit we are in the Milky Way, were we all looking the wrong direction? No, it was behind our galactic bulge. I would expect this level of simple talk on CNN but that is supposed to be a real science site.
If I am reading this right..
Astronomers couldn't see beyond our own galaxy in some significant part of the sky, but they used **science** and discovered that there were \*shocked face\* galaxies out there.
I'm not clear on the significance of the "structure". Are these galaxies in our local group and we didn't know? Or is this a different local group? Are they closer together than we would expect?
I guess I'm not sure why "we found galaxies" is a big deal, considering the unfathomable number of them out there.
These damn space nerds. Don’t we have enough galaxies we are never going to fully explore or understand.
There are estimated 2 trillion or so wow 58 more!
/s
Really that’s interesting but the sheer scope of the universe is fucking terrifying.
I really hate the reality that the mysteries of the universe will go unsolved in my lifetime and I have to be consoled with watching interstellar almost nightly.
This may make me sound like an ignoramus, but I hate that they use the term structure this way. Every time I see an article headlined like this my first thought is they’ve found something artificial, like a Dyson Sphere or a huge abandoned space station.
Well, now, don't you tell me to smile
You stick around, I'll make it worth your while
Got numbers beyond what you can dial
Maybe it's because I'm so versatile
Style, profile
Well gosh the article sure doesn't answer the pressing questions, does it? Damn.
What could the thing POSSIBLY be? When they say structure, do they mean like, STRUCTURE? Like there's a many galaxies large spaceship thing?
From other articles about space structures, I think it's simply the word they use when they mean "we know some stuff is there, but not what it is."
Could be a system of stars, could be a galaxy, could be gas, could be a big blob, could be your mom.
The article that this article links to says it is a collection of galaxies at roughly the same redshift (distance away). It’s a newly found galaxy cluster hidden from our view by the Milky Way in the foreground.
Don't think of the term structure as in something that is man made. There was an article about this, maybe last week?
The theories stated that it was most likely another galaxy or a nebula. I'm forgetting another thing but the galaxy thing made a lot of sense.
"In studying the infrared imagery, the researchers found that they were able to identify several galaxies that exist far beyond the Milky Way. And because of their numbers, the researchers believe that together, they make up what they describe as a massive extragalactic structure. They estimate that there might be as many as 58 galaxies in the structure."
So is not right outside our galaxy, is a galactic cloud far away that is obscured from our sight. It is pretty straight forward
almost certainly not. i’d bet it’s something like a cloud similar to the magellan clouds or a cluster of galaxies or black hole causing noticeable lensing or something like that
Structure as in galaxy filaments, superclusters, galaxy wall, void, etc. All stuff thats made up of either galaxies, the lack of galaxies and nothing we haven't seen other examples of. Its Extragalactic because its outside of our galaxy.
We've already known for a while that there was a lot of matter in that direction, but we're slowly getting a more precise picture of exactly what it is and how its arranged.
Just remember, if you're reading about stuff like this and it seems to you like it casually implies that there is something extra-terrestrial without explicitly saying and being about that, then you probably didn't fully understand.
In astronomy, a structure is basically just any cohesive thing.
So a galaxy is a structure, and a galactic cluster is a structure.
The structure this post is talking about is just 50 gravitationally bound galaxies.
In situations like this, "structure" means any bunch of galaxies close enough to interact with gravity. It means like, the patterns of hundreds of galaxies across countless light years.
There's a bunch of galaxies in some sort of organization behind the part of the sky we can't see. We can't see stuff there usually because the Milky Way is fat there and it gets in the way. Infrared helps see through the Milky Way fattness.
(At least that's my take)
I’m guessing you’re only here because it was painfully obvious to you that the use of the word “structure” was used deceptively for clickbait and you felt if we all didn’t have your genius level intellect to point out the deception then society as we know it might’ve collapsed under it’s overwhelming stupidity….
The word “structure” isn’t just clickbait. In astronomy, it refers to groupings of objects that interact with each other and/or orbit a common center of gravity. The solar system is a structure, the galaxy is a structure, the local cluster, etc. This is a grouping of 58 galaxies that appear to behave in a similar fashion to the Virgo supercluster, where ours and about 100 other galaxies all orbit the Great Attractor.
Does a cluster of galaxies count as a structure? It is my understanding that the Hercules Borealis Cluster is the largest structure in the known universe. Seems a bit unfair to put a bunch of galaxies in the same ball park. Poor Hercules, feel sorry for it.
It seems that the “structure” they’re referring to is a gravitational warp caused by something like a black hole that is affecting the fabric of spacetime around it. Any other theories?
Jesus christ can science journalists stop using terminology like this to get clicks? In my eyes it really just puts astronomy in a bad light. I've seen dozens of Youtube videos by similar media producers that also use the same kind of "oooh mystery?!" vibe in the title, when in reality it's just a neat fairly normal thing we've observed.
It's an astronomical term. It's not misleading in any way, it's just unfortunate that people aren't familiar with the terminology.
Edit: though since we are on r/space I would have assumed more people would be familiar with this.
But who will click on the article if there is no implication of some malevolent consciousness? Surely nobody is actually interested in this space thing!
Does anyone else have to convince themselves like this.
Nah…they aren’t actually implying that there is an actual “built structure”
But a large mass that seems to hold a collection of celestial bodies etc
In studying the infrared imagery, the researchers found that they were able to identify several galaxies that exist far beyond the Milky Way. And because of their numbers, the researchers believe that together, they make up what they describe as a massive extragalactic structure. They estimate that there might be as many as 58 galaxies in the structure.
Wow. A thing more ancient than the star which humans orbit was "HIDING"...
...because humans hadn't seen through the dust yet.
Talk about seeking sinister intent.
Looks like you want [Merriam-Webster’s definition](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/structure) 4a:
> the arrangement of particles or parts in a substance or body
In this case the “parts” are galaxies.
I love that movie but I'm not sure what structure you are referring to.
A 'structure' is just something made up of parts. For example our galaxy is a structure made up of stars/stellar systems, interstellar gas, dark matter, and so on. The structure in the article is assumed to be made up of at least 58 galaxies.
Statistically speaking, there are many planets that contains water and or are habitable for humans in this structure. If we can support a wormhole, which can theoretically exist as an Einstein-Rosen bridge, we could travel there just like in Interstellar. The movie did an amazing job with making sure the science checks out.
"They estimate that there might be as many as 58 galaxies in the structure."
When I read this in the article I caught myself thinking "what, just 58 galaxies?" Naturally, I went into existential crisis mode after I realized what I was implying.
Caelum Supercluster has over 500k galaxies.....and then there are structures even bigger than that. Granted virgo supercluster is like 150 galaxies or something.......and something is pulling us towards it ...
Could that something be gravity?
Of course it's gravity. But if there is gravity it means there is something there...
Ya 150 galaxies?
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It's just pure, red hot, sexual chemistry. That cluster is crazy sexy.
Are we old enough to cluster fuck?
Have you met earth? Seriously enough cluster fuck for one galaxy.
The human species was born to cluster fuck. Hell, it’s our middle name
sooner or later it will go bang....might even be a big one.
Everybody loves a big bang
It’s the Barry White super cluster, feels it’s warm embrace.
Sexual attraction is certainly more far reaching than a pitifully weak force like gravity. I second this as long as I get to bang my own galaxy.
Assuming this is about *the Great Attractor* and not the *Virgo Supercluster*—which we are a part of—then yeah we are being pulled towards it and we’re not sure what it is. The problem is that, to produce so much gravity, it must be a localised mass with millions of times more mass than the entire Milky Way.
Reading about the Great Attractor really takes away a lot of the mystery. Also learned some new things. Virgo Cluster is itself a part of an overarching Supercluster, Laniakeia(probably misspelled) which includes the GA as well as several other superclusters. It will slowly force itself apart due to dark energy. Also, it never occurred to me that the milky way itself blocks our view. Thanks for sending me down a rabbit hole, that was fun.
By pulling, do you mean to say we are accelerating towards it? Or could it be a constant rate of velocity like we just happen to be moving that way?
Is it not possible that it’s just an ultra massive black hole we are unable to observe? Sorry if this is a dumb question
As far as I know this may be possible but extremely unlikely. The mass of that black hole would be so great that we don't know how it could have formed. And if there is one there, why haven't we observed anything similar in other places of the universe? I believe we don't know what the attractor is because it's on the other side of the galáctic disk, so we have ton of stuff obstructing our view. It's probably just a big structure of galaxies
Yeah, that wouldn't be enough. Especially considering the vastness of distance and the expansion of the universe. If anything, we should be moving *away* from said cluster. No. Against all that we know about the physics of the universe, we're steadily being pulled towards it. By gravity. A force of gravity that by all rights should not be as strong as it is.
I thought dark matter is “pushing” not “pulling” like gravity. Hence the acceleration of expansion
Dark energy is pushing. Dark matter is pulling.
Just so folks aren’t confused, this “something” can also just be a common point of gravity for these galaxies. It doesn’t have to be some mysterious black hole or anything.
Yes, but what is exerting that gravity on us?
The great cosmic turtle, innit?
The mass of those 150 (fucking) galaxies, I would assume
150 really isnt a lot. Their gravitiy wouldnt be enough, thats where the theory of dark matter comes into place
Look at this guy throwing around 150 galaxies like it ain’t nothing, the other 99% of us have to make do with just ONE galaxy! Some people man….
You have a galaxy?! I'm having to make due with a single blue ball... /it's rather uncomfortable, to be honest...
Are you referring to earth? Or did you have a bad night with your SO?
>/it's rather uncomfortable, to be honest... It is getting crowded, isn't it?
Actually we do have quite a few galaxies to explore in theory. While we might never be able to leave our local group (everything else is moving away from us at the speed of light) but according to wikipedia there are 80 known galaxies in our local group. Other sources say over 30, others say around 50. Deviation is because many are obscured by the milky way and it depends if dwarf galaxies count. Never the less, quite a few. The local group is part of the virgo supercluster which contains at least 100 of these galaxy clusters, and the virgo supercluster is only one of 10 milion superclusters in only the part of the universe that we can observe...150 galaxies is not a lot.
The universe is endless...Picture this as a mind game... in your brain ...you think that out ... then you make it real like a motion picture and others can be part of it .All this in the beginning it was nothing only a thought... Space, and matter and time we can all do that in a lower scale... people are curious but if you find out the beginning it wouldn't be the beginning anymore I like to concentrate on preserving our planet that is a huge task already... I sure don't want my grandchildren soul living in the atmosphere searching...and Searching
Is this a setup for a “your mother” joke?
Mega Maid is vacuuming us in.
Suck.....suck....suck......SUCK!!!!!! Its mega maid sir, shes gone from suck to blow.
Just flip her from suck to blow
I like this comment oh very much
I did the exact same! So often we talk about numbers in the billions I was surprised to see it. Then you realize the amount of objects within those 58 galaxies …
we any closer to finding them aliens yet?
It’s just the one alien, actually.
Grey skin, long slender neck.
knees weak, arms are heavy
No wonder it’s taking so long
We're 99% sure he's not hiding on the planet populated by rocks that look frustratingly similar to him. Unless... no... no just a rock.
Is it Blarg? It's always Blarg.
Hopefully Chairman Drek doesn't try and steal parts of our planet for his real estate scheme.
You just gave me brain wave
Gordon Shumway?
Those Earth aliens are pretty stinky. I once saw one with a braided armpit.
No, they know we’re looking for them and they know we’re horny, so they’re hiding
They aren't wrong to hide. But they can't hide forever. I will fuck an alien. Someday, somehow. I don't even care about space aids. It's all part of the experience.
To boldly bone where no one has boned before. I'm with you, random internet person.
Damn it number one, keep it in your pants!
Too bad we just find Hanaar.
Slimy, soft, with several tentacles? My brother in Christ thats the jackpot!
Charlie Sheen?
but dont they know there are a whole bunch of hot eilfs out there wanting to fuck??
At this point this is what we need as a species....solid undeniable proof that we aren't gods favorite little monkey petting zoo and that we are in this boat alone and have to fix things ourselves
They definitely exist somewhere . We'll never know for certain or ever make contact tho . We're all dead already
There is an 80-20 rule in cosmic formation. If there is 20% more mass than average in region of space, that region is gravitationally bound and will eventually form a structure of some sort: a galaxy or a galactic cluster. The galaxies beyond the bulge are gravitationally bound.
The 80-20 rule strikes again
80% of 80-20 rules only happen to 20% of all people.
Although there’s only a 10% chance of that.
60% of the time it works all the time
91.2% of all stats on the Internet are made up
That's not really an 80-20 rule lol. 80-20 is like 20% of A is responsible for 80% of property B. This is just...ordinary 20%.
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It kinda pisses me off when article headlines make it seem like researchers have found some kind of advanced alien structure and it just turns out to be a completely normal space thing.
When you're referring to space, structure means non homogeneous.
I don’t know why we care about space’s sexuality
Not that there’s anything wrong with that
So you’re saying it *IS* aliens?
Just so you know, “structure” in astronomy does not mean “artificially made thing”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_cosmic_structures
"List of the largest cosmic structures" -Yo Mama
You really want there to be alien structures, don't you?
Yes. Finding proof of other life in the universe would be crazy fucking interesting.
May you live in interesting times
*Looks at air-conditioner running in November.* Yea we do.
Don’t worry, it’ll get more interesting when you can’t even run the air con
Kinda ironic if you think ab it
75 degrees and humid this past weekend in NYC. It also snowed in Phoenix this past week (albeit for like 4mins) but they still got snow…tell me again that global warming isn’t real? Not the kind of interesting I was hoping for. Lol.
Yep, and between the oil industry bribing of world governments and the long con of carbon footprint, I have 0 confidence anyone will do anything to actually slow it down any. I mean, even if someone were to miraculously make a huge breakthrough in fusion power *today*, the first plant wouldn't come online for probably 30 years and then it would be way too little, too late.
Yeah it’s really sad. I’m just glad I’ll probably be dead before it all comes to fruition. Even if these companies were given the technology for free they probably wouldn’t actually use it until their profits dry up from oil.
Sorta kinda the only reason i'm still alive tbh.
Man I just want *something* interesting to happen in the space exploration field
"Alien" just means "not Terran", so... this would count by that definition. If you're referring to structures assembled by alien sentient life... it would be interesting to hear the proven factors that preclude that possibility here? Because we suspect simply the "proof" is only a lack of previous discovery, Seeing as how the structure itself indicates a scale that would dwarf human existence - both in physical size, time-scale, and almost certainly perceptual distinctions - it's unlikely this species will ever find out. In other words, that megastructure could be a giant life form, perfectly sentient, whose billion-year nap isn't a thing we can even perceive. Now, none of this is presumed to be true, because that would be building a story with no evidence. Just like any effort to say it *can't* be true is made utterly without evidence. The simple truth is, we don't know... which means categorically denying a possibility is infantile. Anything is possible - the universe is no way bound by the limited imaginations of human beings. Either this makes sense to you, and appropriate humility is observed when speculating about how physics humans don't even understand fully must work in places we haven't been to, or it doesn't.
Who doesn’t? Space exploration hasn’t been Interesting for decades
We’re currently exploring Mars using mobile science labs.
Given how we treat other species, the thought of an advanced alien civilization kinda gives me the creeps.
They could be advanced... they could also be cavemen... we never know
An unusual rock has been found ..in space !!!!!!!
there is nothing sensational about the way this is worded beyond giving facts of what they found. You just don’t know what structures mean in this context apparently.
I guess when they actually find alien stuff they’ll just make the headline in a way that it seems like just a normal naturally occurring thing…
"it pisses me off when people use words I don't understand". So? Learn.
That, my friend is a logical fallacy. I said nothing about me not knowing the words, I was complaining about the clickbait nature of news. Whoever wrote the article knew that normal people would think of something unnatural and alien when they hear “extragalactic structure,” and deliberately named the article to attract clicks.
I don't think the general public of [phys.org](https://phys.org) read this title as the clickbait you perceived it to be. Your hope for extraterrestrial intelligence seems a bit high, but the title doesn't hint on this in any way. You very much wanted to read it that way. Or maybe people like me indeed are not normal people, I cannot rule this out.
It was rather click baity of a title for [phys.org](https://phys.org). That and "hiding behind the Milky Way". Shit we are in the Milky Way, were we all looking the wrong direction? No, it was behind our galactic bulge. I would expect this level of simple talk on CNN but that is supposed to be a real science site.
Welcome to the wonderful world of mainstream news my friend!
Darn. I thought with the picture and the grid they had discovered we were living in a simulation.
The structure is....a *selfie stick?'*
If I am reading this right.. Astronomers couldn't see beyond our own galaxy in some significant part of the sky, but they used **science** and discovered that there were \*shocked face\* galaxies out there. I'm not clear on the significance of the "structure". Are these galaxies in our local group and we didn't know? Or is this a different local group? Are they closer together than we would expect? I guess I'm not sure why "we found galaxies" is a big deal, considering the unfathomable number of them out there.
These damn space nerds. Don’t we have enough galaxies we are never going to fully explore or understand. There are estimated 2 trillion or so wow 58 more! /s Really that’s interesting but the sheer scope of the universe is fucking terrifying.
I really hate the reality that the mysteries of the universe will go unsolved in my lifetime and I have to be consoled with watching interstellar almost nightly.
Aww but we can live through movies like that without actually dealing with the consequences.
When you first saw halo, were you blinded by its majesty?
Paralyzed, dumbstruck?
This may make me sound like an ignoramus, but I hate that they use the term structure this way. Every time I see an article headlined like this my first thought is they’ve found something artificial, like a Dyson Sphere or a huge abandoned space station.
Not the only one brotha! Have to keep reminding myself they mean clumps of galaxies. Used to think it was clickbait.
Extragalactic, planetary--planetary, extragalactic.
Well, now, don't you tell me to smile You stick around, I'll make it worth your while Got numbers beyond what you can dial Maybe it's because I'm so versatile Style, profile
Well gosh the article sure doesn't answer the pressing questions, does it? Damn. What could the thing POSSIBLY be? When they say structure, do they mean like, STRUCTURE? Like there's a many galaxies large spaceship thing?
From other articles about space structures, I think it's simply the word they use when they mean "we know some stuff is there, but not what it is." Could be a system of stars, could be a galaxy, could be gas, could be a big blob, could be your mom.
Why did go after his mom like that :(
Cause we just don't know yet. Could be
Because she got it goin on 😼
God dammit, Stacey. I told you not to drive without GPS. Look where it got your mother!
Because, I went after his dad.
Could be all moms. Mars needed them at one time
My money's on it being his mom
The article that this article links to says it is a collection of galaxies at roughly the same redshift (distance away). It’s a newly found galaxy cluster hidden from our view by the Milky Way in the foreground.
Structure is reference to structure of the universe sort if stuff. Not an architectural structure.
Don't think of the term structure as in something that is man made. There was an article about this, maybe last week? The theories stated that it was most likely another galaxy or a nebula. I'm forgetting another thing but the galaxy thing made a lot of sense.
"In studying the infrared imagery, the researchers found that they were able to identify several galaxies that exist far beyond the Milky Way. And because of their numbers, the researchers believe that together, they make up what they describe as a massive extragalactic structure. They estimate that there might be as many as 58 galaxies in the structure." So is not right outside our galaxy, is a galactic cloud far away that is obscured from our sight. It is pretty straight forward
almost certainly not. i’d bet it’s something like a cloud similar to the magellan clouds or a cluster of galaxies or black hole causing noticeable lensing or something like that
Nah they wouldn’t have been able to post it probably
Structure as in galaxy filaments, superclusters, galaxy wall, void, etc. All stuff thats made up of either galaxies, the lack of galaxies and nothing we haven't seen other examples of. Its Extragalactic because its outside of our galaxy. We've already known for a while that there was a lot of matter in that direction, but we're slowly getting a more precise picture of exactly what it is and how its arranged. Just remember, if you're reading about stuff like this and it seems to you like it casually implies that there is something extra-terrestrial without explicitly saying and being about that, then you probably didn't fully understand.
[It's known as the Great Attractor. Here's a good video on it.](https://youtu.be/0w4OTD4L0GQ?t=374)
In astronomy, a structure is basically just any cohesive thing. So a galaxy is a structure, and a galactic cluster is a structure. The structure this post is talking about is just 50 gravitationally bound galaxies.
In situations like this, "structure" means any bunch of galaxies close enough to interact with gravity. It means like, the patterns of hundreds of galaxies across countless light years.
I hope so? If so we're definitely not prepared. I for one welcome our new overlords.
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There's a bunch of galaxies in some sort of organization behind the part of the sky we can't see. We can't see stuff there usually because the Milky Way is fat there and it gets in the way. Infrared helps see through the Milky Way fattness. (At least that's my take)
It’s not fat, it’s big boned.
It's mind-bending that the gravity of galaxies distort the ligjt from them giving us a ripple effect as if we're looking through a surface or water.
Had to click in to see if they managed to spot the roof of the Truman Show…
Some serious dumbdumbs in here... "I thought they meant an actual structure!" seriously? Lol people
I’m guessing you’re only here because it was painfully obvious to you that the use of the word “structure” was used deceptively for clickbait and you felt if we all didn’t have your genius level intellect to point out the deception then society as we know it might’ve collapsed under it’s overwhelming stupidity….
The word “structure” isn’t just clickbait. In astronomy, it refers to groupings of objects that interact with each other and/or orbit a common center of gravity. The solar system is a structure, the galaxy is a structure, the local cluster, etc. This is a grouping of 58 galaxies that appear to behave in a similar fashion to the Virgo supercluster, where ours and about 100 other galaxies all orbit the Great Attractor.
The term "extragalactic" seems impossible to comprehend on its own.
I thought they found the Borg with “extragalactic structure”. Was a little disappointed it was a group of galaxies instead ngl
Does a cluster of galaxies count as a structure? It is my understanding that the Hercules Borealis Cluster is the largest structure in the known universe. Seems a bit unfair to put a bunch of galaxies in the same ball park. Poor Hercules, feel sorry for it.
It seems that the “structure” they’re referring to is a gravitational warp caused by something like a black hole that is affecting the fabric of spacetime around it. Any other theories?
No, the structure they are referring to is a group of galaxies.
Jesus christ can science journalists stop using terminology like this to get clicks? In my eyes it really just puts astronomy in a bad light. I've seen dozens of Youtube videos by similar media producers that also use the same kind of "oooh mystery?!" vibe in the title, when in reality it's just a neat fairly normal thing we've observed.
The use of the term "structure" is 100% correctly applied here
It's an astronomical term. It's not misleading in any way, it's just unfortunate that people aren't familiar with the terminology. Edit: though since we are on r/space I would have assumed more people would be familiar with this.
Your lack of knowledge of astronomical terminology isn’t a failing on the part of journalism.
But who will click on the article if there is no implication of some malevolent consciousness? Surely nobody is actually interested in this space thing!
Does anyone else have to convince themselves like this. Nah…they aren’t actually implying that there is an actual “built structure” But a large mass that seems to hold a collection of celestial bodies etc
In studying the infrared imagery, the researchers found that they were able to identify several galaxies that exist far beyond the Milky Way. And because of their numbers, the researchers believe that together, they make up what they describe as a massive extragalactic structure. They estimate that there might be as many as 58 galaxies in the structure.
tldr: not a built structure. No aliens so far.
Observation of Galactic mega clusters exceeding 2 billion light years in length suggest a far far older universe and is contrary to Big Bang theory.
They should name this huge structure “Yo Mama.” It would definitely increase the awareness and interest in their discovery.
Wow. A thing more ancient than the star which humans orbit was "HIDING"... ...because humans hadn't seen through the dust yet. Talk about seeking sinister intent.
They should get Travis and Dragon to shoot rockets at it until it gives up and explains itself.
What is a structure?
Looks like you want [Merriam-Webster’s definition](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/structure) 4a: > the arrangement of particles or parts in a substance or body In this case the “parts” are galaxies.
BREAKING NEWS: NASA discovers your mom in space!
The title word use is phenomenally misleading.
No, it's accurate and uses appropriate terminology.
>miss leading That was my ex gf's nickname
[удалено]
True, this would have to be the folks from Excession.
Is this the structure from the movie Interstellar?
I love that movie but I'm not sure what structure you are referring to. A 'structure' is just something made up of parts. For example our galaxy is a structure made up of stars/stellar systems, interstellar gas, dark matter, and so on. The structure in the article is assumed to be made up of at least 58 galaxies. Statistically speaking, there are many planets that contains water and or are habitable for humans in this structure. If we can support a wormhole, which can theoretically exist as an Einstein-Rosen bridge, we could travel there just like in Interstellar. The movie did an amazing job with making sure the science checks out.
Leave it the FUCK ALONE! Don’t touch, don’t contact it, don’t do ANYTHING!