A new discovery being touted as the largest structure in the known universe by scientists in England is challenging modern cosmological theory.
Since the 1970s astronomers have worked under what they call the cosmological principle, basically, that the observable universe is a fair sample and the same physical laws apply throughout. Under that principle, calculations have suggested that structures larger than approximately 1.2 billion light years should not exist.
The new object, is a collection of extremely luminous quasars powered by supermassive central black holes.
Scientists have known for decades that quasars tend to cluster and have been known to be up to 600 million light years across.
This new large quasar group (LQG) dwarfs anything ever before observed. At nearly four billion light years across at its widest point it is almost unfathomable just how big it is.
Just to add a little bit of perspective, the Milky Way, our home galaxy measures only 100,000 light years across.
Our nearest galaxy neighbor is a mere 2.5 million light years away.
That distance itself selves is mind-boggling enough without trying to imagine something more than an order of magnitude greater.
Although a reasonable working model, it is not all that surprising that the cosmological principle would not hold up to our rapidly expanding ability to observe more of the universe.
In 1927, J.B.S. Haldane, a British geneticist and evolutionary biologist wrote: "I have no doubt that in reality the future will be vastly more surprising than anything I can imagine. Now my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose."
That, of course, has become one of the most quotable and quoted quotes in the history of science and with each discovery such as this latest LQG, it is bourne out.
And, again, it's probably not all that surprising. Black holes, of course, are queer objects that have such a great gravitational force that even light cannot escape them.
Supermassive black holes can have masses equivalent to billions of suns.
Quasars are also queer objects. Powered by supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies, they actually outshine their host galaxies and are the brightest objects in the sky.
This originally confused observers. If light cannot escape a black hole, then how do these quasars exist?
It took scientists a long time to determine that although light cannot escape from the black hole itself, particles around the edges can break free where they are accelerated to nearly the speed of light.
The resulting quasar emits energies of millions, billions or even trillions of electron volts surpassing the total of all the light of all the stars in the galaxy.
Known Quasars shine anywhere from 10 to 100,000 times brighter than the Milky Way.
This new LQG is a collection of 73 quasars. The gravitational forces and energy represented by this cluster defies description.
And that's the truly awesome thing about science. No matter how much we know, there's so much more that we don't.
Science of nonsense
Is it true that autistic children can outgrow their autism?
There is, in fact, some new evidence that some people may be able to overcome their autism.
The new study, published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry involved 34 people aged eight to 21 who had been previously diagnosed with autism, but no longer fit the criteria for the condition.
The researchers anticipated potential criticism that the autism spectrum has become so wide that many people who have ostensibly shed their autism, were misdiagnosed in the first place.
In this study, the scientists restricted the research to people who had been diagnosed before the age of five by a physician in writing and who had not spoken before 18 months or used phrases before two years.
The patients were compared to a group of similar IQ, age and gender with high functioning autism (Asperger's). They were also compared to a matched group of typically developing people.
Of course, more studies will be required to be definitive, but it is exciting preliminary data indicating autistic brains may be more plastic than previously thought.
