Scientists Find Largest Hole in the Universe

Larry Rudnick, Shea Brown and Liliya Williams from the University of Minnesota believe they have found the largest known empty space in the universe in the constellation Eridanus.

The hole was found by studying the NRAO VLA Sky Survey, which was carried out in the 1990s using the Very Large Array radio telescope.  Rudnick and his team found that the number of radio sources in a 5-degree diameter area in Eridanus is 30 per cent smaller than average, suggesting that there is a hole in the three-dimensional distribution of galaxies. The hole is so large it takes light three billion years to travel across it. 

The team will carry out further observations at the Very Large Array Telescope this winter.