Burj Khalifa
Standing next to the pyramids, one can't help but marvel at their size. Half a mile high, Burj Dubai is equally breathtaking as it rises into the clouds. In our minds, perhaps only the towering Everest, which stands at the top of the sky, can match it.
However, compared to our vast universe, they are like a grain of dust in a sea of sand. Today, we will explore the largest ones in the universe based on their relative size.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" data-track="8" > largest asteroid</h1>
Ceres is the largest asteroid we've discovered to date. It accounts for 1/3 of the mass of the entire asteroid belt and is nearly 600 miles in diameter. It was about the size of California, and large enough that its own gravity forced it into a spherical shape. It's so big that it also earned the title of "dwarf planet." It is the only object in the asteroid belt large enough to earn this title.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" data-track="15" > largest planet, TRES4</h1>
The planet TRES4 in the constellation Hercules is 70% larger in diameter than Jupiter, but only 80% massive by Jupiter. Because it is so close to the Sun's orbit, it is thought that the intense heat expands the gas that makes up the planet, causing it to be almost as dense as a "marshmallow." It holds the title of the largest planet we've discovered to date.
The planet, called TrES-4, was first discovered in the spring of 2006 by George Mandushev and others at the Lowell Observatory in the United States. The planet is located 1400 light-years away from Earth, nearly 20 times the diameter of Earth, and its composition is mainly hydrogen, with a surface temperature of 1260 degrees Celsius. Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology and Harvard University confirmed Mandushev's discovery with the Keck Large Telescope in Hawaii. TRES4 is the largest known planet, 70% larger in diameter than Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, but much less massive, so the density is very small, only 0.2 grams per square centimeter, comparable to Balsa wood, a type of lightweight wood.
Scientific exploration is never-ending. Just recently, scientific reports have been made that observations of an exoplanet called WASP-17b suggest that it is even larger than TRES4. Although it has twice the radius of Jupiter, it has only half the mass of Jupiter. This makes it more "fluffy" than TRES4. In the near future we believe that more planets will be discovered.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" data-track="23" > UY Scuti ( E. Shield ) - the largest known star</h1>
UY Scuti is the largest star (diameter) we know of. It belongs to a class of stars known as red supergiants. It's 1,708 times the radius of the Sun, and the world's fastest car takes 2,600 years to circle, and it's astounding just the thought. If you compare the Earth to the size of a basketball, the UY Scuti will be 125,000 feet tall!
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="04" data-track="36" > the largest black hole</h1>
Black holes are not very large areas of space in physical space. But when you include their mass, they're one of the biggest competitors to the biggest things in the universe.
Science always impresses us with its latest discoveries. On November 28, 2012, researchers at the University of Texas used the Hobby-Eberly telescope to discover what they claim to be the largest supermassive black hole to date. This black hole has a mass of up to 17 billion suns and is located at the center of the galaxy NGC 1277. It is so massive that it accounts for 14% of the total galaxy's mass. The event horizon is 11 times the diameter of Neptune's orbit around the Sun — a radius of more than 300 AU. From the right perspective, it's an object larger than our entire solar system. How big can a black hole be? According to scientists, there is no theoretical upper limit.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="05" data-track="42" > largest galaxy, IC1101 Milky Way</h1>
Supergaxies are galaxies that merge with many other galaxies, and they are located in the middle of a galaxy cluster. The largest galaxy we've found to date is the IC1101 supercluster. It is 6 million light-years wide. By comparison, the Milky Way in which our planet is located is only 100,000 light-years away. The IC1101 is 60 times larger than our own.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="06" data-track="46" >-ray radio lobe</h1>
The radio lobe is powered by the accretion disk of the supermassive black hole. These supermassive black holes can be found at the centers of most galaxies. When matter is consumed by a black hole, some energy and matter will fly away at the high speed that occurs at the black hole's poles.
These radiations appear in the form of jets of radio energy that can be seen with radio telescopes. The largest in the Milky Way is 3C236 in the constellation Leo Minor. Its jets span 40 million light-years. The jets from start to finish are much larger than any galaxy.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="07" data-track="52" > Lyman Alpha spot</h1>
These spots are a very brief phase in the birth of a galaxy cluster. They are amorphous objects filled with gas, not yet fully coalesced and not yet bound or solidified by gravity. As these spots age, they condense and eventually form massive clusters of galaxies.
The Lyman Alpha spot is shaped like an amoeba or jellyfish. The largest one we found was 200 million light-years wide and was located in the constellation Aquarius.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="08" data-track="58" > Shapley super cluster</h1>
The Shapley Supercluster is made up of galaxies that are more than 400 million light-years old. Our own milky way is about 4,000 times smaller. The supercluster is so large that our fastest spacecraft will spend trillions of years trying to traverse it.
It is the largest gravitational-bound object we know of to date. Being bound by gravity means that as the universe continues to expand, the gravitational pull between galaxies in this cluster is enough to overcome this expansion, keeping them together forever.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="09" data-track="63" > huge LQG</h1>
Huge-LGQ (Giant Quasar Group) was discovered in January 2013 and is said to be the largest structure in the universe. Huge-LQG is a collection of 73 confirmed quasars (quasars are a very dynamic galaxy). Astronomers have found that gravitationally bound groups of quasars are so large that it takes more than 4 billion years to travel from start to finish at the speed of light. It is so large that its existence makes it contrary to Einstein's cosmological principles. Cosmological principles say that when the universe is viewed on a sufficiently large scale, it should look exactly the same no matter where you look from or where you look at it. Huge-LGQ shatters this assumption. Understandably, the researchers were fascinated by the discovery and eager to continue their investigation.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="10" data-track="68" > cosmic web</h1>
Most astronomers agree that the biggest thing in the universe is the cosmic web. It is an endless galaxy cluster scaffolding surrounded by dark matter, similar to a 3-dimensional spider web. Galaxy clusters and dark matter form "hubs" that connect galactic filaments to form a mesh appearance. (See side view)
How big is the network? If the Milky Way were a poppy seed, the cosmic web of the observable universe would be as large as the Rose Bowl Stadium.