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Nearby Cosmic Web Filament Found Rotating Across 50 Million Light-Years

A peer-reviewed analysis using MeerKAT plus DESI/SDSS finds a dynamically cold, gas-rich filament whose motion informs theories of galaxy spin.

A figure depicting the rotation of neutral hydrogen in galaxies residing in an extended filament, where the galaxies exhibit a coherent bulk rotational motion tracing the large-scale cosmic web, is seen in this undated illustration obtained by Reuters on December 4, 2025. Scientists have observed one of the largest rotating structures ever seen in the universe, a filament comprised of galaxies and gas and dark matter located 140 million light-years away from Earth and measuring 5.5 million light-years in length. Lyla Jung/Handout via REUTERS
Astronomers have identified a strikingly narrow formation: fourteen galaxies rich in hydrogen, each spaced along a stretch spanning more than 5.5 million light-years, embedded within a significantly larger spinning cosmic filament. This is an image of spiral galaxy M74 (Photo: Nasa)
Image

Overview

  • The structure lies about 140 million light-years away and hosts roughly 280–300 galaxies within a thread about 117,000 light-years wide.
  • Kinematic modeling shows galaxies on opposite sides move in opposing directions, implying bulk rotation at about 110 km/s.
  • Within the filament, astronomers traced a razor-thin line of 14 hydrogen-rich galaxies stretching about 5.5 million light-years.
  • The system appears young and relatively undisturbed, with coherent spin alignments and abundant neutral hydrogen pointing to ongoing gas inflow and star formation.
  • The findings, reported in MNRAS by a team led by Lyla Jung and Madalina Tudorache, rely on MeerKAT MIGHTEE radio data combined with DESI and SDSS spectroscopy and motivate deeper multi-wavelength surveys to test how common such rotation is.