The Hyperion proto-supercluster is the largest and most massive structure yet found at such a remote time and distance —
about 2.3 billion years after the Big Bang. Image credit: ESO / L. Calçada & Olga Cucciati et al.
Posted on 10/19/2018 7:20:53 AM PDT by ETL
“This is the first time that such a large structure has been identified at such a high redshift, just over 2 billion years after the Big Bang [~13.7 billion],” said lead author Dr. Olga Cucciati, an astronomer at the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Italy.
“Normally these kinds of structures are known at lower redshifts, which means when the Universe has had much more time to evolve and construct such huge things. It was a surprise to see something this evolved when the Universe was relatively young!”
Located in the COSMOS field in the constellation of Sextans, Hyperion was identified by analyzing the vast amount of data obtained from the VIMOS Ultra-deep Survey (VUDS).
The proto-supercluster has a very complex structure, containing at least seven high-density regions connected by filaments of galaxies, and its size is comparable to nearby superclusters, though it has a very different structure.
“Superclusters closer to Earth tend to a much more concentrated distribution of mass with clear structural features,” said Dr. Brian Lemaux, an astronomer at the University of California, Davis.
“But in Hyperion, the mass is distributed much more uniformly in a series of connected blobs, populated by loose associations of galaxies.”
Given its size so early in the history of the Universe, Hyperion is expected to evolve into something similar to the immense structures in the local Universe such as the superclusters making up the Sloan Great Wall or the Virgo Supercluster that contains our Milky Way Galaxy.
“Understanding Hyperion and how it compares to similar recent structures can give insights into how the Universe developed in the past and will evolve into the future, and allows us the opportunity to challenge some models of supercluster formation,” Dr. Cucciati said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sci-news.com ...
I always get a chuckle whenever anyone mentions “years” as a time reference in these scenarios.
What was a “year” before earth’s orbit around the sun existed?
As a unit of time, it's still basically valid, given that distances to the furthest regions of space are determined via the light-year, the distance light travels in a year at its speed of 186,000 miles per second. Granted, there are a lot of seconds in 11.7 billion years (13.7 - 2.0 = 11.7).
Once again, your point of reference is a “year,” which is actually an event: the earth making one trip around the sun.
The second is the SI base unit of time, commonly understood and historically defined as 1/86400th of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each.
Another intuitive understanding is that it is about the time between beats of a human heart.[nb 1]
Mechanical and electric clocks and watches usually have a face with 60 tickmarks representing seconds and minutes, traversed by a second hand and minute hand.
Digital clocks and watches often have a two-digit counter that cycles through seconds.
In common parlance, a “clock tick” is a second, though most modern clocks are digital electronic, and do not actually tick.[citation needed]
The second is also part of several other units of measurement like velocity, acceleration, and frequency.
Though the historical definition of the unit was based upon this division of the Earth’s rotation cycle, the formal definition in the International System of Units (SI) is a much steadier timekeeper: 1 second is defined to be exactly 9,192,631,770 cycles of a Caesium atomic clock.[1][2][3]
Because the Earth’s rotation varies and is also slowing ever so slightly, a leap second is added to clock time[nb 2] to keep clocks in sync with Earth’s rotation.
one year = 364.25 x 24 x 60 x 60 = 31,536,000 seconds
“the formal definition in the International System of Units (SI):
1 second is defined to be exactly 9,192,631,770 cycles of a Caesium atomic clock.[1][2][3]”
Did global warming do them in?
Make that, one year = 365.00 x 24 x 60 x 60 = 31,536,000 seconds
“the formal definition in the International System of Units (SI):
1 second is defined to be exactly 9,192,631,770 cycles of a Caesium atomic clock.[1][2][3]”
Confused myself trying to account for leap years. In any case, the second, as a unit of time, is totally independent of earth’s (or any other body’s) orbital period.
No, of course not!
Fracking.
So, “light year” is a misnomer, because year lengths vary?
You know before the Internet one might understand this banter... but lately, seriously, you guys have no excuse :-)
Astronomer have defined the year for the purposes of astronomy to be 365.25 days of exactly 86,400 seconds (the SI base unit), totaling exactly 31,557,600 seconds. (According to Wikipedia)
Astronomer have defined the year for the purposes of astronomy to be 365.25 days of exactly 86,400 seconds (the SI base unit), totaling exactly 31,557,600 seconds. (According to Wikipedia)
You guys? My answer was precisely the same.
You had a good run at first, but then you dropped the 0.25... So I had to include you :-)
*ping*
it is still a relevant unit of measure of time to us earthlings
so one light year is the distance that a beam of light will travel in one year, +/- the variation on any given year. but still close enough. It will get you in the neighborhood.
But it is still based upon time equaling one earth year.
Does time had “length?” is my question. Does it? Or are we just slaves to the apparent interval of the earth making one trek around the sun?
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