How big is the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall?
Have you ever wondered what the biggest thing in the universe is? You might think it’s a planet, or maybe even a galaxy. But how about something so large that it’s nearly impossible to imagine? Something that could make our whole galaxy look like a tiny speck of dust? Believe it or not, there’s something out there that’s just that big. It’s called the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall.
The Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall, also known as the Great Wall, is the largest known structure in the observable universe. But what does that mean? To put it simply, it’s a massive superstructure. It’s not a wall like you might think of around a castle, but an area in space with lots of gamma-ray bursts, which are some of the most powerful explosions in the universe. This Great Wall was discovered in early November 2013 by a team of American and Hungarian astronomers who were studying data from the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission, along with other data from ground-based telescopes.
Now, you might be wondering just how large this Great Wall is. It’s about 10 billion light-years in length. To put that into perspective:
The Great Wall lies in the Northern Hemisphere of the sky, centered on the border of the constellations Hercules and Corona Borealis. This might make it seem like the Great Wall is somewhere close by, but remember, it’s billions of light-years away! Even traveling at the speed of light, it would take billions of years to get there.
The Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall is just one of the many wonders of the universe. It’s a reminder of just how vast and amazing space is. So the next time you look up at the night sky, remember that beyond those stars, galaxies and nebulae lies the largest known structure in the observable universe - the Great Wall.