Our universe is not consistent . Its matter is clumped up in various blank space , with some regions less obtuse than others . And it seems like we just might be in one of those places , a vast cosmic void .
A new study was presented today at the 230th group meeting of theAmerican Astronomical Societyin Texas suggesting as much . It provides new grounds that our region of distance has far few extragalactic nebula , stars , and satellite than others . Two paper on the findings have been submitted to the Astrophysical Journal .
The idea that we live in a void neatly explain a problem in astrophysics . When we measure the expansion rate of the existence , theHubble Constant , it should be the same everywhere we reckon . But as it ’s not , this suggests the gravitational twist elsewhere in the universe is stronger .
“ No matter what proficiency you practice , you should get the same value for the enlargement rate of the universe today , ” tell Ben Hoscheit from the University of Wisconsin - Madison , the work ’s lead writer , in astatement . “ Fortunately , living in a nihility helps resolve this tenseness . ”
According to the findings , the spherical nihility we reside in is seven multiplication turgid than the average void , spanning a huge 1 billion wakeful - years . Named KBC afterits discoverers(Keenan , Barger , and Cowie ) in 2013 , it is the largest void we ’ve ever found .
That ’s not to say it in spades exists , just that it seems plausible . Most of the evidence comes from variant in the expansion of the universe on a local scale and on a cosmic scale . The former issue forth from supernova explosions in our vicinity , the latter from photons start from the cosmic microwave background ( CMB ) .
The void feign the value for the Hubble Constant measure on a local scale , but not a cosmic one . This gives rise to the discrepancy for the two reading , and provides some indirect evidence for the vacancy ’s world .
Hoscheit told IFLScience the difference was about 73.24 kilometers ( 45.5 miles ) per 2d per megaparsec at the local story , and 66.93 at a cosmic grade .
“ If one does not calculate for the effects consociate with go in this void , one is biased to measure a higher value of this Hubble constant quantity ' locally ' , ” he said .
It ’s no secret that our cosmos is inherently lumpy . Our galaxy lodge in in the vastLaniakea Supercluster , a gravitationally - bind web of 100,000 galaxies . Superclusters like this are the biggest social structure in the universe . We appear to be pulled towards a dense neighborhood called theGreat Attractor , and push away from an empty region called theDipole Repeller .
Whether we ’re being push or pull , it does look like we may now also be in a decidedly empty region of outer space . fortuitously for us on Earth , it ’s not enough to make our observation of the universe any less impressive .
