#superclusters

Galactic Shockwaves

The universe is full of awe inspiring structures, but astronomers at the University of Hamburg have discovered a shockwave 60 times larger than the entire Milky Way galaxy.

The shockwave consists of accelerated electrons that over a billion years ago, shot out of a galactic cluster merger, that formed the supercluster Abel 3667, over 750 million light years from Earth.

In the above image, the supercluster is represented by the central white area, which is in fact, over 500 galaxies that make up the cluster.

Astronomers see an Enormous Shockwave, 60 Times Bigger Than the Milky Way - Universe Today

Astronomers have a thing for big explosions and collisions, and it always seems like they are trying to one-up themselves in finding a bigger, brighter one.  There’s a new entrant to that category – an event so big it created a burst of particles over 1 billion years ago that is still visible today and is 60 times bigger than the entire Milky Way.

That shockwave was created by the merger of two galaxy clusters to create a supercluster known as Abell 3667.  This was one of the most energetic events in the universe since the Big Bang, according to calculations by Professor Francesco de Gasperin and his time from the University of Hamburg and INAF.  When it happened over 200 million years ago, it shot out a wave of electrons, similar to how a particle accelerator would.  All these years later, those particles are still traveling at Mach 2.5 (1500 km / s), and when they pass through magnetic fields, they emit radio waves.

An illustration of galaxy superclusters and cosmic voids, similar to the structure of the BOSS Great Wall 

Superclusters – regions of space that are densely packed with galaxies – are the biggest structures in the Universe. But scientists have struggled to define exactly where one supercluster ends and another begins.

Now, a team based in Hawaii has come up with a new technique that maps the Universe according to the flow of galaxies across space. Redrawing the boundaries of the cosmic map, they redefine our home supercluster and name it Laniakea, which means “immeasurable heaven” in Hawaiian.

Watch the fantastic video here: X

Read the Nature news story here: X

UGC 12591

UGC 12591 is a galaxy located about 400 million light years away towards the constellation Pisces-Perseus Supercluster. The Pisces Perseus Supercluster is a chain of galaxy clusters hundreds of millions of light years long, one of the largest structures in the known universe.

UGC 12591 is somewhere between a lenticular and a spiral galaxy. The galaxy is massive, several times the mass of our Milky Way, and rotates at up to 1.8 million kilometers per hour. Astronomers are studying UGC 12591 to understand whether the galaxy grew over time or gained its mass by colliding with other galaxies. 

Eric Xu, Huawei’s Rotating Chairman, gives a keynote. Shanghai, China, September 18, 2025 – HUAWEI CONNECT 2025 kicks off today in Shanghai. Eric Xu, Huawei’s Deputy Chairman of the Board and Rotating Chairman, gave a keynote themed “Groundbreaking SuperPoD Interconnect: Leading a New Paradigm for AI Infrastructure”. During the event, Xu unveiled the world’s most powerful SuperPoDs and…