A colossal structure comprised of entire galaxies and galactic clusters has been found in space.
The Big Ring is estimated to be about 1.3 billion light years in diameter and has a circumference of some 4 billion light years.
The formation’s prodigious size makes it appear about 15 times the size of the Moon when viewed from Earth, several media publications point out.
It was identified by Alexia Lopez, a PhD student at the University of Central Lancashire, who presented her findings at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
Lopez is also credited with previously identifying another gigantic space structure known as the Big Arc that spans some 3.3 billion light years.
"Neither of these two ultra-large structures is easy to explain in our current understanding of the universe,” she said. "Their ultra-large sizes, distinctive shapes, and cosmological proximity must surely be telling us something important - but what exactly?"
She also argued that “from current cosmological theories, we didn't think structures on this scale were possible."