cosmic web

plural cosmic webs

1. astronomyA vast foam-like structure of galaxy clusters, superclusters, sheets, walls, and filaments, separated by immense voids.

   1 more example

   The observations reveal that an ancient cluster of galaxies about 12bn light years away in the constellation of Aquarius are linked together by a network of faint gas filaments. The existence of the cosmic web is central to current theories of how galaxies first formed following the big bang, but until now evidence for it had remained largely circumstantial.

   2019 October 3, Hannah Devlin, “Scientists observe mysterious cosmic web directly for first time”, in The Guardian, →ISSN