Scientists chance upon new discovery that ‘challenges our understanding of the universe’

Astronomers have found a huge ring-shaped structure in outer space that is so big it challenges humanity's current understanding of the universe.

The ultra-large structure has a diameter of 1.3 billion light-years and a circumference of 4 billion light-years. It's so big that even in our night sky from Earth, it would be 15 times the size of the moon.

Dubbed the Big Rung, the structure is made up of clusters of galaxies. It's the second of this size to be identified by British PhD student Alexia Lopez.

She also discovered the Giant Arc, a similar structure which spans 3.3 billion light-years three years ago.

Lopez studies at the University of Central Lancashire. She said: "Neither of these two ultra-large structures is easy to explain in our current understanding of the universe.

"And their ultra-large sizes, distinctive shapes, and cosmological proximity must surely be telling us something important – but what exactly?"

The findings were presented by Lopez at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. They appear to stand at odds with a cosmological principle which asserts that the universe should look roughly the same everywhere.

Most scientists believe large structures in the universe like this are formed through a process known as gravitational instability.

This is thought to have a size limit of approximately 1.2 billion light-years, however, as anything bigger would not have time to form.

Lopez said: "Both of these structures are much larger - the Giant Arc is almost three times bigger and the Big Ring's circumference is comparable to the Giant Arc's length.

"From current cosmological theories, we didn't think structures on this scale were possible."

The data being analysed is "so far away that it has taken half the universe's life to get to us."

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