Astronomers have recently made a groundbreaking discovery by identifying a massive rotating galactic filament spanning approximately 5.5 million light years and connecting 14 galaxies. This remarkable find was made through the analysis of data gathered from the Meeerkat radio telescope’s Mighttee-Hi review. The team, led by Madelina N. Tudorak from the University of Cambridge, reported their findings in a study published on Arxiv.
Galactic filaments are enormous threads that form the “cosmic web,” which are the largest known structures in the universe. These filaments play a crucial role in supplying cold gas to galaxies, fueling their growth and evolution. Recent advancements in technology have allowed astronomers to detect such structures by observing the radiation of neutral atomic hydrogen (HI), enabling them to track the movement of low-density gas between galaxies.
The newly discovered rotating galactic filament is located in the Cosmos field at a redshift of Z = 0.03. All 14 galaxies within the filament exhibit similar radial velocities ranging from 9,230 to 9,700 km/s with a dispersion of approximately 140 km/s. The galaxies are aligned in a nearly straight line tilted at an angle of about 30° to the north with a slight westward slope. The estimated length of the filament is around 5.5 million light years, with a characteristic width of about 117 thousand light years.
Further observations suggest that this filament is part of a larger cosmic web structure spanning at least 49 million light years in length and 2.6-3.3 million light years in thickness. The alignment of the galaxies’ rotation axes with the direction of the filament indicates a strong connection between the angular momentum of the galaxies and the large-scale structure of cosmic matter.
Analysis of the data reveals compelling evidence that the galaxies are rotating around the “spine” of the filament. Given its size and kinematics, this filament is believed to be the longest and most massive rotating structure discovered to date. Researchers also speculate that the system is in its early stages of evolution, as the abundance of HI-rich galaxies and low “dynamic temperature” suggest that the imprint of cosmic matter flows within these galaxies has been well preserved over spacetime.