The Perseus–Pegasus Filament is a

galaxy filament In cosmology, galaxy filaments are the largest known structures in the universe, consisting of walls of galactic superclusters. These massive, thread-like formations can commonly reach 50 to 80 megaparsecs ()—with the largest found to date b ...

containing the

Perseus–Pisces Supercluster The Perseus–Pisces Supercluster (SCl 40) is one of the largest known structures in the universe. Even at a distance of 250 million light-years, this chain of galaxy clusters extends more than 40° across the northern winter sky. The Perseus– ...

and stretching for roughly a 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 (or over 300/h Mpc). Currently, it is considered to be one of the largest known structures in the universe.The reference cited claims the Perseus-Pisces Filament as the largest known structure in the universe. However, various reports cite the

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- ...

as the largest at across. This filament is adjacent to the

Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex The Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex is a galaxy filament. It includes the Laniakea Supercluster which contains the Virgo Supercluster lobe which in turn contains the Local Group, the galaxy cluster that includes the Milky Way. This filament is ...

Discovery

While the Perseus–Pegasus Filament was formally discovered by David Batuski and Jack Burns of

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution of higher education, and was the original land-g ...

in 1985, it is likely that the Lowell Observatory's

Clyde Tombaugh Clyde William Tombaugh (; February 4, 1906 – January 17, 1997) was an American astronomer best known for discovering Pluto, the first object to be identified in what would later be recognized as the Kuiper belt, in 1930. Raised on farms in ...

, best known for being the discoverer of

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...

, was aware of its existence in 1936 while conducting his search for trans-Saturnian planets. He reported it as the ''Great Perseus-Andromeda stratum of Extra-Galactic Nebulae''. Earlier still, parts of this clustering had been reported by .

Notes

References

Galaxy filaments Large-scale structure of the cosmos Astronomical objects discovered in 1985 {{physical-cosmology-stub

Discovery

See also

Notes

References