The Big Ring is a ring-shaped large-scale structure formed by galaxies and galaxy clusters near the constellation Boötes with a diameter of 1.3 billion light years , located 9.2 billion light years away. It was discovered in 2024 by Alexia Lopez , a PhD student at the University of Central Lancashire . In 2021, she discovered the Giant Arc , a similar structure located in the same region. It is a significant astronomical discovery, as it challenges the Cosmological Principle . Currently, there is no known cause for its formation within our current understanding of the universe . The Big Ring is the seventh large structure discovered that contradicts the understanding of smooth matter distribution across the largest scale of the universe.
33-399: The Big Ring is composed of numerous galaxies and galaxy clusters that form a continuous, almost perfect ring-like pattern in space. With its diameter of 1.3 billion light years and a circumference of 4 billion light years , it is one of the largest known structures within the observable universe . The structure is made up of many galaxy clusters and galaxies of various types. Some regions of
66-672: A nanosecond ; the term "light-foot" is sometimes used as an informal measure of time. ISO 80000 ISO/IEC 80000 , Quantities and units , is an international standard describing the International System of Quantities (ISQ). It was developed and promulgated jointly by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). It serves as
99-598: A German popular astronomical article by Otto Ule . Ule explained the oddity of a distance unit name ending in "year" by comparing it to a walking hour ( Wegstunde ). A contemporary German popular astronomical book also noticed that light-year is an odd name. In 1868 an English journal labelled the light-year as a unit used by the Germans. Eddington called the light-year an inconvenient and irrelevant unit, which had sometimes crept from popular use into technical investigations. Although modern astronomers often prefer to use
132-474: A style guide for using physical quantities and units of measurement , formulas involving them, and their corresponding units, in scientific and educational documents for worldwide use. The ISO/IEC 80000 family of standards was completed with the publication of the first edition of Part 1 in November 2009. By 2021, ISO/IEC 80000 comprised 13 parts, two of which (parts 6 and 13) were developed by IEC and
165-501: Is available online. A definition of the decibel , included in the original 2006 publication, was omitted in the 2019 revision, leaving ISO/IEC 80000 without a definition of this unit; a new part of the standard, IEC 80000-15 (Logarithmic and related quantities), is under development. ISO 80000-4:2019 revised ISO 80000-4:2006, which superseded ISO 31-3 . It gives names, symbols, definitions and units for quantities of mechanics. The descriptive text of this part
198-493: Is available online. ISO 80000-5:2019 revised ISO 80000-5:2007, which superseded ISO 31-4 . It gives names, symbols, definitions and units for quantities of thermodynamics . The descriptive text of this part is available online. IEC 80000-6:2022 revised IEC 80000-6:2008, which superseded ISO 31-5 as well as IEC 60027-1. It gives names, symbols, and definitions for quantities and units of electromagnetism . The descriptive text of this part
231-542: Is available online. ISO 80000-7:2019 revised ISO 80000-7:2008, which superseded ISO 31-6 . It gives names, symbols, definitions and units for quantities used for light and optical radiation in the wavelength range of approximately 1 nm to 1 mm. The descriptive text of this part is available online. ISO 80000-8:2020 revised ISO 80000-8:2007, which revised ISO 31-7:1992. It gives names, symbols, definitions, and units for quantities of acoustics . The descriptive text of this part
264-419: Is available online. It has a foreword, scope introduction, scope, normative references (of which there are none), as well as terms, and definitions. It includes definitions of sound pressure , sound power , and sound exposure , and their corresponding levels : sound pressure level , sound power level , and sound exposure level . It includes definitions of the following quantities: IEC 80000-13:2008
297-487: Is easy to explain in our current understanding of the universe ." Light-year A light-year , alternatively spelled light year ( ly or lyr ), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly 9 460 730 472 580 .8 km , which is approximately 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a light-year
330-454: Is exactly 299 792 458 metres or 1 / 31 557 600 of a light-year. Units such as the light-minute, light-hour and light-day are sometimes used in popular science publications. The light-month, roughly one-twelfth of a light-year, is also used occasionally for approximate measures. The Hayden Planetarium specifies the light month more precisely as 30 days of light travel time. Light travels approximately one foot in
363-561: Is the parsec (symbol: pc, about 3.26 light-years). As defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the light-year is the product of the Julian year (365.25 days, as opposed to the 365.2425-day Gregorian year or the 365.24219-day Tropical year that both approximate) and the speed of light ( 299 792 458 m/s ). Both of these values are included in the IAU (1976) System of Astronomical Constants , used since 1984. From this,
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#1732791075281396-433: Is the distance that light travels in vacuum in one Julian year (365.25 days). Despite its inclusion of the word "year", the term should not be misinterpreted as a unit of time . The light-year is most often used when expressing distances to stars and other distances on a galactic scale, especially in non-specialist contexts and popular science publications. The unit most commonly used in professional astronomy
429-477: Is the product of a mean Gregorian year (365.2425 days or 31 556 952 s ) and the defined speed of light ( 299 792 458 m/s ). Another value, 9.460 528 405 × 10 m , is the product of the J1900.0 mean tropical year and the defined speed of light. Abbreviations used for light-years and multiples of light-years are: The light-year unit appeared a few years after the first successful measurement of
462-492: The Sloan Great Wall run up into the billions of light-years. Distances between objects within a star system tend to be small fractions of a light-year, and are usually expressed in astronomical units . However, smaller units of length can similarly be formed usefully by multiplying units of time by the speed of light. For example, the light-second , useful in astronomy, telecommunications and relativistic physics,
495-753: The University of Central Lancashire . It resulted from her ongoing research into large-scale structures of the universe using MgII (singly ionized magnesium) absorbers detected in quasar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) . Lopez focused her attention on this region of the cosmos because of her previous work on the Giant Arc . Through examining absorption lines in the spectra of quasars, Lopez and her team were able to identify intervening Magnesium-II (MgII) absorption systems. These absorption lines, back-lit by distant quasars, revealed
528-420: The erlang (E), bit (bit), octet (o), byte (B), baud (Bd), shannon (Sh), hartley (Hart), and the natural unit of information (nat). Clause 4 of the standard defines standard binary prefixes used to denote powers of 1024 as 1024 ( kibi- ), 1024 ( mebi- ), 1024 ( gibi- ), 1024 ( tebi- ), 1024 ( pebi- ), 1024 ( exbi- ), 1024 ( zebi- ), and 1024 ( yobi- ). Part 1 of ISO 80000 introduces
561-435: The erlang (a unit of traffic intensity). The standard includes all SI prefixes as well as the binary prefixes kibi-, mebi-, gibi-, etc., originally introduced by the International Electrotechnical Commission to standardise binary multiples of byte such as mebibyte (MiB), for 1024 bytes, to distinguish them from their decimal counterparts such as megabyte (MB), for precisely 1 million ( 1000 ) bytes. In
594-511: The parsec , light-years are also popularly used to gauge the expanses of interstellar and intergalactic space. Distances expressed in light-years include those between stars in the same general area, such as those belonging to the same spiral arm or globular cluster . Galaxies themselves span from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand light-years in diameter, and are separated from neighbouring galaxies and galaxy clusters by millions of light-years. Distances to objects such as quasars and
627-656: The International System of Quantities (ISQ). The descriptive text of this part is available online. ISO 80000-2:2019 revised ISO 80000-2:2009, which superseded ISO 31-11 . It specifies mathematical symbols, explains their meanings, and gives verbal equivalents and applications. The descriptive text of this part is available online. ISO 80000-3:2019 revised ISO 80000-3:2006, which supersedes ISO 31-1 and ISO 31-2 . It gives names, symbols, definitions and units for quantities of space and time. The descriptive text of this part
660-477: The International System of Quantities and describes its relationship with the International System of Units (SI). Specifically, its introduction states "The system of quantities, including the relations among the quantities used as the basis of the units of the SI, is named the International System of Quantities , denoted 'ISQ', in all languages." It further clarifies that "ISQ is simply a convenient notation to assign to
693-502: The Julian year) and a measured (not defined) speed of light were included in the IAU (1964) System of Astronomical Constants, used from 1968 to 1983. The product of Simon Newcomb 's J1900.0 mean tropical year of 31 556 925 .9747 ephemeris seconds and a speed of light of 299 792 .5 km/s produced a light-year of 9.460 530 × 10 m (rounded to the seven significant digits in
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#1732791075281726-426: The accuracy of his parallax data due to multiplying with the uncertain parameter of the speed of light. The speed of light was not yet precisely known in 1838; the estimate of its value changed in 1849 ( Fizeau ) and 1862 ( Foucault ). It was not yet considered to be a fundamental constant of nature, and the propagation of light through the aether or space was still enigmatic. The light-year unit appeared in 1851 in
759-588: The distance to a star other than the Sun, by Friedrich Bessel in 1838. The star was 61 Cygni , and he used a 160-millimetre (6.2 in) heliometre designed by Joseph von Fraunhofer . The largest unit for expressing distances across space at that time was the astronomical unit , equal to the radius of the Earth's orbit at 150 million kilometres (93 million miles). In those terms, trigonometric calculations based on 61 Cygni's parallax of 0.314 arcseconds, showed
792-409: The distance to the star to be 660 000 astronomical units (9.9 × 10 km; 6.1 × 10 mi). Bessel added that light takes 10.3 years to traverse this distance. He recognized that his readers would enjoy the mental picture of the approximate transit time for light, but he refrained from using the light-year as a unit. He may have resisted expressing distances in light-years because it would reduce
825-505: The essentially infinite and continually evolving and expanding system of quantities and equations on which all of modern science and technology rests. ISQ is a shorthand notation for the 'system of quantities on which the SI is based'." The standard includes all SI units but is not limited to only SI units. Units that form part of the standard but not the SI include the units of information storage ( bit and byte ), units of entropy ( shannon , natural unit of information and hartley ), and
858-554: The exact cause of these two structures remains unknown. The discoveries of the Big Ring as well as the Giant Arc are significant as they challenge the Cosmological Principle , which asserts that the universe is homogeneous and isotropic on large scales. Currently, there is no theoretical model to account for the existence of the gigantic galactic formations. Lopez stated “Neither of these two ultra-large structures
891-521: The following conversions can be derived: The abbreviation used by the IAU for light-year is "ly", International standards like ISO 80000:2006 (now superseded) have used "l.y." and localized abbreviations are frequent, such as "al" in French, Spanish, and Italian (from année-lumière , año luz and anno luce , respectively), "Lj" in German (from Lichtjahr ), etc. Before 1984, the tropical year (not
924-446: The presence of a massive, ring-like structure. One theory suggested the structure to be related to Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs) , however, due to its large scale and non-spherical shape, it was incompatible with this theory. Other suggested explanations were Conformal Cyclic Cosmology or effects of speculative cosmic strings (which are filamentary ‘topological defects’ of great size) passing through. Despite these hypotheses,
957-550: The remaining 11 were developed by ISO, with a further three parts (15, 16 and, 17) under development. Part 14 was withdrawn. By 2021 the 80000 standard had 13 published parts. A description of each part is available online, with the complete parts for sale. ISO 80000-1:2022 revised ISO 80000-1:2009, which replaced ISO 31-0:1992 and ISO 1000:1992. This document gives general information and definitions concerning quantities, systems of quantities, units, quantity and unit symbols, and coherent unit systems, especially
990-426: The ring are denser than others, indicating variations in the mass and number of galaxies present. It exceeds the theoretical size limit of cosmic formations, which calculated to be 1.2 billion light-years. This was previously thought to be impossible, as there wasn't enough time to be had for such a large structure to form. The discovery of the Big Ring was announced on 10 January 2024 by PhD student Alexia Lopez from
1023-423: The speed of light) found in several modern sources was probably derived from an old source such as C. W. Allen 's 1973 Astrophysical Quantities reference work, which was updated in 2000, including the IAU (1976) value cited above (truncated to 10 significant digits). Other high-precision values are not derived from a coherent IAU system. A value of 9.460 536 207 × 10 m found in some modern sources
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1056-452: The standard, the application of the binary prefixes is not limited to units of information storage. For example, a frequency 10 octaves above 1 hertz, i.e., 2 Hz (1024 Hz), is 1 kibihertz (1 KiHz). These binary prefixes were standardized first in a 1999 addendum to IEC 60027-2 . The harmonized IEC 80000-13:2008 standard cancels and replaces subclauses 3.8 and 3.9 of IEC 60027-2:2005, which had defined
1089-545: Was reviewed and confirmed in 2022 and published in 2008, and replaced subclauses 3.8 and 3.9 of IEC 60027-2:2005 and IEC 60027-3 . It defines quantities and units used in information science and information technology , and specifies names and symbols for these quantities and units. It has a scope; normative references; names, definitions, and symbols; and prefixes for binary multiples. Quantities defined in this standard are: The standard also includes definitions for units relating to information technology, such as
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