What structure do matter distributions form on scales smaller than about 300 million light-years?
Answer
Cosmic webs composed of filaments, walls, and enormous voids.
While radiation (CMB) is nearly perfectly uniform on large scales, the distribution of matter on smaller scales exhibits significant lumpiness. On scales under approximately 300 million light-years, matter organizes itself into complex structures known as cosmic webs. These webs are characterized by filaments, which are long, thin alignments of galaxy clusters, and voids, which are expansive regions largely empty of galaxies. This non-uniform clumping is precisely why the universe is only considered homogeneous (the same everywhere) when averaging over volumes large enough to smooth out these specific features.
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