Giant blob of gas detected in early universe

[Ivan Seeking]

WASHINGTON - A strange giant space “blob” spotted when the universe was relatively young has got astronomers puzzled.

Using space and ground telescopes, astronomers looked back to when the universe was only 800 million years old and found something that was out of proportion and out of time. It was gaseous, big, and emitted a certain type of radiation, said study lead author Masami Ouchi, an astronomer at the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, Calif.

Scientists don’t even know what to call it. So they just called it a radiation-emitting “blob.”...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30353034/

 

[Chronos]

It is an interesting discovery. Only further observation will tell the tale.

 

[phyzmatix]

Scientists don’t even know what to call it.

"Hubert"

 

[Ivan Seeking]

"Hubert"

The friend who sent the link to me called it, "Mother".

 

[hypatia]

Got to love a good blob.

"More formally, they named it Himiko, after a legendary ancient Japanese queen."
Drats, I don't like that name.

 

[flatmaster]

If this thing is so young, would there be any expectation of it "lining up with" an anisotropy in the CMB?

 

[Blenton]

Now why don't they look a little further back in time to see the big bang :)

 

[Matterwave]

Now why don't they look a little further back in time to see the big bang :)

They do look further back, but there was an epoch in time when atoms were opaque to EM radiation. This is a cut off point. You can't see any further back than that (so you can't actually see the big bang).

 

[Chronos]

The early universe was only opaque to em radiation, neutrinos could push the limit much further back, and gravity waves - perhaps all the way back.