Giant "Blob" Is Largest Thing in Universe - VGF

GRENTLEMEN · 08-06-2006, 03:19 AM

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...iant-blob.html

Quote:

July 31, 2006
Japanese astronomers have discovered what they call the largest object in the universe: a colossal structure 200 million light-years wide that resembles a swarm of giant green jellyfish.

Using the Subaru and Keck telescopes on the Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii, the research team found an enormous object containing clusters of galaxies surrounded by gas clouds known as Lyman alpha blobs.

Because the object is so far away, the astronomers are actually looking at something from 12 billion years ago, a mere 2 billion years after the universe is believed to have been formed in the big bang.

This young galactic blob could reveal how and when the earliest galaxies formed.

Ryosuke Yamauchi from Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, and his colleagues used the Subaru Telescope to study a region of the universe known to contain large concentrations of gas.

By placing a special filter on the telescope, they were able to concentrate on the narrow range of light wavelengths expected from galaxies at extreme distances.

With these special "goggles" Yamauchi and his team were able to pick out the giant blob. It spreads out along three wavy tentacles.

Each arm is packed with galaxies around four times closer to each other than the universe's average.

Previously known structures with such high density are much smaller, only about 50 million light-years across.

"The densest regions in the universe are the places where galaxies are thought to have formed first. Because this is one of the biggest structures known, it must be one of the very first to have formed," said Philip Best, an astronomer at the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh in the U.K.

***Ace Mercury*** · 08-06-2006, 12:29 PM

I've always been trying to grasp the slightest of the sheer magnitute of everything in life.

??? > quarks > leptons > subatomic > atomic > molecular > (here's where I understand things) > municipal > federal > global > solar system > galaxy > quasar > ???

Codiekitty · 08-06-2006, 12:43 PM

Thanks for confusing me. I thought those arrows were "greater than" signs, and not "goes to", and I was left going "I though a molecule was smaller than a galaxy?!?!".

Where are these lemmings going? The Super Nintendo Super Shire! Hop in line and follow them there!

***Ace Mercury*** · 08-06-2006, 12:51 PM

I'm-a sorry desu.

Cravdraa · 08-06-2006, 01:50 PM

Galaxy Clusters would be the next step after galaxy. We still don't really know what quasars are, but they're about the same size as a galaxy and probably just another type, or perhaps a different earlier stage of galaxy development. BTW, it's interesting enough to note that this "Blob" probably doesn't exist any more.

Kae · 08-08-2006, 03:18 AM

"???" could be neutrinos.

***Ace Mercury*** · 08-08-2006, 08:25 AM

Nah, a neutrino is a lepton.

08-08-2006, 08:25 AM	#7
*Ace Mercury* Marshmallow Knight ☆ Supermod Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Southern Ontario Gender: Posts: 18,935 Thanks: 360 Thanked 1,484 Times in 779 Posts Blog Entries: 1 Points: 97,836.70 Bank: 11,962,794.81 Total Points: 12,060,631.51 Donate	My quantum physics is a bit rusty, but... Nah, a neutrino is a lepton.

08-06-2006, 12:29 PM	#2
*Ace Mercury* Marshmallow Knight ☆ Supermod Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Southern Ontario Gender: Posts: 18,935 Thanks: 360 Thanked 1,484 Times in 779 Posts Blog Entries: 1 Points: 97,836.70 Bank: 11,962,794.81 Total Points: 12,060,631.51 Donate	I've always been trying to grasp the slightest of the sheer magnitute of everything in life. ??? > quarks > leptons > subatomic > atomic > molecular > (here's where I understand things) > municipal > federal > global > solar system > galaxy > quasar > ???

08-06-2006, 12:43 PM	#3
Codiekitty Just Another Face in Red Jumpsuit Join Date: May 2001 Location: Lemmingland Gender: Posts: 19,143 Thanks: 121 Thanked 173 Times in 119 Posts Points: 43,457.72 Bank: 3,021,450.74 Total Points: 3,064,908.46 Donate	Thanks for confusing me. I thought those arrows were "greater than" signs, and not "goes to", and I was left going "I though a molecule was smaller than a galaxy?!?!". Where are these lemmings going? The Super Nintendo Super Shire! Hop in line and follow them there!

08-06-2006, 12:51 PM	#4
*Ace Mercury* Marshmallow Knight ☆ Supermod Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Southern Ontario Gender: Posts: 18,935 Thanks: 360 Thanked 1,484 Times in 779 Posts Blog Entries: 1 Points: 97,836.70 Bank: 11,962,794.81 Total Points: 12,060,631.51 Donate	I'm-a sorry desu.

08-06-2006, 01:50 PM	#5
Cravdraa Senior Member Join Date: May 2001 Location: It's round on the sides and high in the middle Gender: Posts: 5,572 Thanks: 49 Thanked 80 Times in 52 Posts Points: 30,445.01 Bank: 661,439.00 Total Points: 691,884.01 Donate	Galaxy Clusters would be the next step after galaxy. We still don't really know what quasars are, but they're about the same size as a galaxy and probably just another type, or perhaps a different earlier stage of galaxy development. BTW, it's interesting enough to note that this "Blob" probably doesn't exist any more.

08-08-2006, 03:18 AM	#6
Kae Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2000 Gender: Posts: 3,700 Thanks: 42 Thanked 68 Times in 56 Posts Points: 9,341.67 Bank: 2,847.38 Total Points: 12,189.05 Donate	"???" could be neutrinos.