Located 3,000 million light years away, it contains at least 58 galaxies: they would be linked together by a gravitational anomaly known as the Great Attractor
An unexplored region of the cosmos known as the “escape zone” lurks behind the center of the Milky Way: in that place, astronomers have just discovered a huge structure made up of multiple galaxies. Located approximately 3 billion light-years from Earth, the mysterious structure appears to be a large cluster of galaxies linked by a shared center of gravity.
An international group of astronomers made up of scientists from the National University of San Juan and the National University of La Plata, in Argentina, the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil, and the Andrés Bello University, in Chile, has published a new study in ArXiv that sheds light on the “evasion zone”, a hidden area in space located behind the center of the Milky Way. The researchers concluded that this almost unknown region of the cosmos presents a huge structure never before identified, which could be made up of up to 58 united galaxies.
An unknown zone
This “ghost region” of the Universe, known as the “evasion zone” or “empty zone” (ZOA), is a white dot on the map of the cosmos that comprises between 10 and 20 percent of the sky. night. It cannot be seen, at least with standard visible-light telescopes, because the center of the Milky Way blocks its view: the high density of the galactic center, packed with stars, cosmic dust, and other material, causes light from the area of evasion is scattered or absorbed before reaching ground-based telescopes.
This “ghost region” of the Universe, known as the “evasion zone” or “empty zone” (ZOA), is a white dot on the map of the cosmos that comprises between 10 and 20 percent of the sky. night. It cannot be seen, at least with standard visible-light telescopes, because the center of the Milky Way blocks its view: the high density of the galactic center, packed with stars, cosmic dust, and other material, causes light from the area of evasion is scattered or absorbed before reaching ground-based telescopes.
Combining data from different studies carried out with infrared technology, South American scientists managed to reveal the most colossal structure ever detected in the evasion zone. It is located approximately 3,000 million light years from Earth, and the first conclusions of astronomers suggest that it would be made up of an extensive cluster of galaxies, united by a shared center of gravity.
Prepared for future revelations
The researchers built on observations from the VVV Survey, which scans the same regions of the cosmos over and over again to reveal objects whose brightness varies over time. This survey, which studies the central bulge of the Milky Way at infrared wavelengths, uses data from the VISTA telescope of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), located at the Paranal Observatory in Chile.
According to scientists, at least 58 galaxies would be grouped in this gigantic hidden galaxy cluster, which also occupies a small plot of the evasion zone, whose enormous dimensions require great future scientific efforts, including the work of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. , to reveal all its mysteries.
In addition, the ZOA is also home to the so-called “Great Attractor”, an unknown gravitational anomaly that pulls galaxies and clusters towards it, and which could be involved in the observed cluster junction. According to an article published in Interesting Engineering, the only way to understand the nature of this gravitational anomaly is through further observations and investigations: because of this, astronomers said they were prepared to be surprised by future revelations that may be delivered by Earth. ZOA.