Using the VIMOS receiver on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), an international team of astronomers discovered a colossal formation in the early Universe: a proto-supercluster of galaxies. The object, called the Hyperion, was discovered as a result of new measurements and thorough research of archival data. This is one of the largest and most massive structures found today at such a great distance from us and at such an early stage in the development of the Universe – only 2.3 billion years after the Big Bang.
For the first time, such a huge formation was found at such a large redshift — just over two billion years after the Big Bang. Usually such giant structures are found at much lower redshifts, which means that the Universe had much more time for such huge objects to have time to form and evolve. Seeing something like this in an era when the universe was relatively young was a complete surprise!
-Olga Kuchatiati, lead author of the study from the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) in Bologna (Italy)
The calculated mass of the proto-supercluster turned out to be more than a million billion solar masses. This value is of the same order as the mass of the largest structures observed in the modern Universe, but the discovery of such an object in the early Universe was unexpected for astronomers.
Hyperion is located in the COSMOS field in the constellation Sextant. It was discovered by analyzing a huge amount of data received with a VIMOS receiver during the ultra-deep sky survey VIMOS Ultra-deep Survey, performed by Olivier Lefevre from the University of Marseille (France). The VIMOS Ultra-Deep Survey overview yielded a unique result: a three-dimensional map of the distribution of more than 10,000 galaxies of the early Universe.
The researchers were able to establish that Hyperion is a very complex structure: the cluster contains at least seven areas with high density of galaxies connected by fibers, also consisting of galaxies. The size of the supercluster is comparable to the size of similar objects close to us, although it differs from them in structure.
Superclusters that are closer to our Galaxy usually have a much larger mass concentration distribution and quite clear structural features. And in Hyperion, the mass is distributed relatively evenly in a number of interconnected cavities inhabited by rather amorphous associations of galaxies.
-Brian Lemo, co-author of the study from the University of California (USA)
This difference is most likely due to the fact that nearby superclusters had billions of years so that gravity forces could gather matter in more dense areas. In a much younger Hyperion, this process is valid for a much shorter time.
With such dimensions in such an early epoch of the history of the Universe, Hyperion will have to turn into something resembling grandiose structures in a local area of the Universe close to us, such as superclusters that make up the Great Wall of the Sloan and our Milky Way.
Understanding the structure and history of Hyperion and how this supercluster looks compared to similar older formations can help us understand how the Universe has evolved in the past and how it will evolve in the future, and also allow us to test some models of supercluster formation.
-Olga Kuchchiati
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