For a long time, scientists have tried to find why planets and galaxies rotate. Now a new study has suggested that the rotation does not end at galaxies and probably the entire universe is in constant moving motion. Published in the Nature journal, the study shows how the filaments of galaxies that are up to hundreds of millions of light-years long may be the largest spinning objects in the universe.
In a previous study, scientists suggested that after the universe was born in the Big Bang about 13.8 billion years ago; much of the gas that makes up most of the known matter of the cosmos broke down to form massive sheets. These sheets further broke apart to form the filaments of a vast cosmic web.
In their study, scientists investigated the possibility that filaments of galaxies, which are giant cylindrical tendrils of matter spanning hundreds of millions of light-years, are themselves spinning. To conduct their study, the group of scientists stacked thousands of filaments together and examined the velocity of galaxies perpendicular to the filament’s axis. Data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey was used by the scientists, who examined more than 17,000 filaments, for the velocity at which the galaxies making up these giant tubes moved within each tendril. Through their analysis they found that these tendrils also display vortical motion consistent with rotation, making them the largest objects known to have angular momentum.
The mass of the two halos closest to the filament’s two endpoints was also examined for a possible correlation with the signal strength that the scientists measured. The study further discovered that the more massive the haloes from where the filaments emerge and end, the higher will be the rotation. These results signify that angular momentum can be generated on unexpectedly large scales. Scientists also noted that not every single filament in the universe spins, but spinning filaments do seem to exist.
This research has inspired some new studies where scientists would try to decipher why the tendrils exhibit rotational movement and where the Big Bang has got anything to contribute to this phenomena.
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