The most massive Galax urceolata in the universe of discourse have a mountain going on for them , but one thing that has puzzled researchers is why they seem to be align with other galaxies in their surroundings . researcher have yet to work that out , but a new piece of research might offer some insight .
outside astronomers , led by Michael West of Lowell Observatory , have discovered aline massive galaxies in the distant past of the universe . These objects were already pointing towards their neighbors when the universe was just 3 billion class quondam . This puts a date stamp on whatever mechanics is responsible for this cosmic alignment .
“ It ’s an crucial new piece of the puzzle because it says that whatever stimulate these alignments hap ahead of time , ” West said in astatement .
The study , published inNature Astronomy , used 65 big galaxy clusters observed by the Hubble Space Telescope . Studying object that existed when the population was one - third of its present years is not a walk in the park . astronomer can usually wreak out the alignment by simply looking at the light of these galaxies , but the further they look , the more problems arise , even when using the sharp eye of Hubble .
“ We ’re test to measure the configuration and orientations of galaxies that look very faint and very minor because of their keen distances , which is gainsay , ” West continued .
But why did these big galaxy end up aligned in a such a way ? So far , two primary idea have been put forward to explicate the phenomenon and both are connected to how galax are distributed in the universe . Galaxies are not locate at random in the cosmos , but alternatively tend to be organized in denser filaments with wide gap between them . The anatomical structure is call the cosmic World Wide Web .
One hypothesis suggests that these massive galaxies became this big by eating pocket-size galaxies . Since most galaxies are locate in the cosmic web , then the growing happens preferentially in the direction of the cosmic web .
Another hypothesis suggests that the gravitation from other galaxies in the cosmic vane is enough to tug at the liberal galaxies and over time align it . The newfangled study does n’t categorically keep out either hypothesis , but it put some pretty stern constraints on how quickly this special orientation formed .
Next - coevals scope , like the James Webb Space Telescope , will appear further into the yesteryear . Hopefully , it will aid resolve this fascinating mystery once and for all .
