--- title: Scientists Have Discovered the Biggest Known Structure In the Universe description: It's a gigantic, nearly empty hole called the "supervoid" canonical: https://time.com/3829354/scientists-discover-supervoid-largest-structure-universe/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-21T09:38:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:32:28.444Z article:section: Science og:title: Here's the Universe's Biggest Structure og:description: But you couldn't be blamed for missing it. og:url: https://time.com/3829354/scientists-discover-supervoid-largest-structure-universe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's the Universe's Biggest Structure twitter:description: But you couldn't be blamed for missing it. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Scientists Have Discovered the Biggest Known 'Structure' In the Universe by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Apr 21, 2015 9:38 AM UTC by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Apr 21, 2015 9:38 AM UTC Scientists researching a mysteriously cold region in space have found what they say is the largest known “structure” in the universe — [a gigantic hole](http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/apr/20/astronomers-discover-largest-known-structure-in-the-universe-is-a-big-hole). Discovered by researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the expanse is being called the “supervoid” and measures 1.8 billion light years across, the _Guardian_ reported. The university’s lead researcher István Szapudi called it “the largest individual structure ever identified by humanity,” although his team’s targeted survey confirmed that it contains absolutely nothing — all scientists know is that about 10,000 galaxies are missing from it in a section that shows unusually low temperatures. [Read more at _The Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/apr/20/astronomers-discover-largest-known-structure-in-the-universe-is-a-big-hole) _Read next:_ [_How to Watch the Lyrid Meteor Shower This Week_](http://time.com/3829416/watch-lyrid-meteor-shower/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/autoplay/?xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3829354/scientists-discover-supervoid-largest-structure-universe/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3829354/scientists-discover-supervoid-largest-structure-universe/"},"headline":"Scientists Have Discovered the Biggest Known 'Structure' In the Universe","datePublished":"2015-04-21T09:38:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:32:28.444Z","description":"But you couldn't be blamed for missing it","url":"https://time.com/3829354/scientists-discover-supervoid-largest-structure-universe/","keywords":["astronomy","study","Outer Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/astronomy/","name":"astronomy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3829354/scientists-discover-supervoid-largest-structure-universe/","name":"Scientists Have Discovered the Biggest Known 'Structure' In the Universe"}}]}] ```