Astronomers from the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy have made a groundbreaking discovery suggesting that our cosmic neighborhood may be much larger than previously thought.

While the Milky Way was previously identified as part of the Laniakea Supercluster, which spans 500 million light-years, new evidence indicates this may only represent a small fraction of a larger cosmic system.

There is now a 60% probability that our galaxy is part of an even larger structure, potentially ten times greater in volume, centered around the Shapley concentration.

The Cosmicflows team analyzed the movements of 56,000 galaxies, suggesting an expansion in the scale of the galactic basin of attraction.

This research involves analyzing galaxy motions to delineate the gravitational influence boundaries of superclusters, with the team aiming to continue mapping to better understand our place in the universe.

Co-author Ehsan Kourkchi emphasized that current cosmic surveys might not be extensive enough to accurately map these vast basins.

Lead researcher R. Brent Tully described the universe as a web where galaxies cluster along filaments and nodes due to gravitational forces.

The evolution of the universe, starting over 13 billion years ago from small density fluctuations, has led to the formation of the current large-scale structures.

This discovery suggests that the processes shaping the cosmos might extend beyond existing models if our galaxy is indeed part of a larger basin.

The findings were published in the journal 'Nature Astronomy' and may significantly alter our understanding of cosmic structures.