A giant ring-shaped structure has been discovered in deep space, challenging our understanding of the universe. The structure, called the Big Ring, is 9.2 billion light-years from Earth and has a diameter of 1.3 billion light-years. It is the second ultra-large structure discovered by UCLan PhD student Alexia Lopez. The other structure, the Giant Arc, is 3.3 billion light-years across.

The Big Ring is difficult to explain with our current understanding of the universe. Scientists are unsure if it is related to Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs) or if it is evidence of a Conformal Cyclic Cosmology (CCC). Other possibilities include cosmic strings or a challenge to the Cosmological Principle.

The Big Ring and Giant Arc are both much larger than what was previously thought to be possible. They are so large that they challenge our idea of what a typical region of space looks like.

Source: https://www.uclan.ac.uk/news/big-ring-in-the-sky

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