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Space
Space
Science
Robert Lea

Gamma-ray bursts reveal largest structure in the universe is bigger and closer to Earth than we knew: 'The jury is still out on what it all means.'

An illustration of teh Hercules-Corona BorealisGreat Wall. Our entire galaxy sits on one of those tiny threads.

The universe's largest structure, the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall, was already a challenge to explain with models of the universe due to its incredibly vast size — and now, using the most powerful blasts of energy in the universe, Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), astronomers have discovered this structure is even bigger than they realized. Plus, the team even found that parts of the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall are actually closer to Earth than previously suspected.

The Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall is a so-called "supercluster" of galaxies; it's a filament of the cosmic web around which the first galaxies in the universe gathered and grew. Its name was coined by Johndric Valdez, a Filipino teenager who aspires to be an astronomer. That name isn't very literal, however. This is because the round-shaped Great Wall spans not just the constellations Hercules and Corona Borealis but also the region of the celestial sphere from the constellations Boötes to Gemini.

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