An enormous extragalactic structure has been found in a region far beyond the center of the Milky Way.
The zone of avoidance is a blank spot on the map of the universe that is between 10% and 20% of the sky. The center of our galaxy is so dense with stars, dust and other matter that light from the zone can't be seen with a standard visible light telescope.
The zone's secrets can be found with telescopes that can detect a type of energy that's invisible to humans but powerful enough to shine through dense clouds of gas and dust. The zone of avoidance has been found to contain thousands of individual galaxies, though little is known about the large-scale structures that are present there.
The most massive structure ever detected in the zone of avoidance has been found by combining data from several surveys, according to a study published in October. The study has been submitted for review in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
A large cluster of galaxies drawn together by a shared center of gravity is located approximately 3 billion light-years from Earth. The authors of the study found evidence of at least 58 galaxies bundled together in a small plot of the zone of avoidance, using observations from the VVV Survey.
There are hundreds of thousands of galaxies in the largest known clusters. It's not possible to tell how big or wide the newly discovered cluster is because of the distances and obstructions between it and Earth.
The zone of avoidance may not be as bad as was thought after the detection of this huge object. The James Webb Space Telescope, which has already taken the deepest image of the universe, should help scientists uncover the hidden secrets.
The story was first posted on Live Science.
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