Scientists find a galaxy supercluster as massive as 26 quadrillion Suns
Astronomers have discovered a cavalcade of monster superclusters, incredibly massive collections of galaxies and galaxy clusters. The most striking example of these 662 new superclusters is located around 3 billion light years away from Earth and has been named the Einasto Supercluster. The Einasto Supercluster is staggering in terms of its sheer size and mass. It contains the same mass as around 26 quadrillion Suns. This supercluster is so vast that it would take a light signal 360 million years to travel from one side of it to the other.
From the sample discovered, the team, led by astronomers from Tartu Observatory, was able to calculate the average supercluster mass and size.
The researchers determined that the typical mass of a supercluster in this collection is around 6 quadrillion solar masses, while the typical size is around 200 million light years across. To put this into perspective, the average supercluster is around 2,000 times larger than the Milky Way. In terms of mass, if the Sun were the same mass as a golf ball, one of these superclusters would have the same mass as Mount Everest. While exploring the properties of these superclusters, the team found that the clusters of galaxies within the superclusters are heavier than those found outside the superclusters. This demonstrates that galaxies in superclusters grow and evolve differently from galaxies outside such environments.