Galaxy structure seven billion light-years away

Astronomers have tracked down a gigantic, previously unknown assembly of galaxies located almost seven billion light-years away from us. The discovery, made possible by combining two of the most powerful ground-based telescopes in the world — ESO’s Very Large Telescope and NAOJ’s Subaru Telescope — is the first observation of such a prominent galaxy structure in the distant Universe, providing further insight into the cosmic web and how it formed.

This animation provides a fly-through through the newly found galaxy filament and reveals the extent of this gigantic structure.

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