- A team of Indian astronomers have identified previously unknown, extremely large supercluster of galaxies called Saraswati
- Saraswati supercluster is one of the largest known structures in the nearby universe.
- It is 4 billion light years away from Earth and may contain the mass equivalent of over 20 million billion suns.
- It has 43 galaxies that may contain thousands of suns, besides having billions of stars, planets, other bodies, gases and dark matter.
- It is estimated to be stretched over 650 million light years in distance.
- The discovery of Saraswati supercluster will help astronomers in understanding galaxy formation and evolution, effect of superclusters on environment of the galaxies.
What is a Supercluster?
- A supercluster is a chain of galaxies and galaxy clusters.
- It is bound by gravity consisting of tens of thousands of galaxies.
- It often stretches several hundred times the size of clusters of galaxies.
- Thus, it can be said, galaxies are made of billions of stars and planets and grouped into clusters.
- These clusters of galaxies, in turn, are grouped together to form superclusters.
- The Milky Way, the galaxy in which earth is located is part of a supercluster called the Laniakea Supercluster.