This rotating galaxy filament 5.5M light-years long connects 14 galaxies
What's the story
A team of astronomers has discovered a new rotating galaxy filament, measuring some 5.5 million light-years long and connecting 14 galaxies. The discovery was made by analyzing data from the MeerKAT International Giga-Hertz Tiered Extragalactic Exploration (MIGHTEE-HI) survey. The finding of the survey was published on the pre-print server arXiv.
Cosmic connections
What are galaxy filaments?
Galaxy filaments are the largest known structures in the universe, comprising galaxies with diverse stellar populations and structures. These massive formations play a crucial role in injecting gas into galaxies, facilitating their growth and evolution. The discovery of large filamentary structures has only been possible through observations of neutral atomic hydrogen (HI), a cold gas found within these cosmic webs.
Filament discovery
New filament is part of a larger cosmic web structure
The newly discovered filament, observed at redshift z = 0.03 in the COSMOS field, connects 14 HI galaxies. These galaxies lie within a narrow range of recessional velocity (9,230-9700km/s) and form a linear structure on the celestial sphere. The filament is about 5.5 million light-years long and some 117,000 light-years wide. It is also part of a larger cosmic web structure that spans at least 49 million light-years across with thickness between 2.6 and 3.3 million light-years.
Cosmic dynamics
A look at the alignment
The 14 HI galaxies are strongly aligned with the cosmic web filament, suggesting a close connection between their angular momentum and this large-scale structure. The data also shows strong evidence for the galaxies' rotation around the filament's spine. This makes it one of the largest spinning structures identified so far, providing more insights into its early evolutionary stage where cosmic matter flow on galaxies has been preserved over time.