The Milky Way could be part of a much larger 'cosmic neighborhood' than we realized, challenging...

The region of the universe we live in may be significantly bigger than we thought. A new study reveals that the intergalactic supercluster holding the Milky Way may be part of an even bigger "basin of attraction" that's up to 10 times larger than the one we currently call home.

The universe is full of basins of attraction (BOAs) — regions within which everything is being pulled inward by the gravity of a massive object. BOAs can stack inside one another like nesting dolls. For example, the moon circles Earth, which in turn orbits the sun along with the rest of the solar system, which is itself spiraling around the supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy.