The Blob from Outer Space
By Anne Pawsey
Astronomers using the ESO’s (European Space Observatory) Very Large Telescope have discovered a large, primordial and enticingly-named “blob” 11.6 billion light years from earth. Due to its distance from us we see the blob as it was when the universe was a relatively youthful 2 billion years old (the current age of the universe is about 13 billion years).
This blob is a blimin’ strange object, it is large – about twice the size of our galaxy – emits the same amount of energy as 2 billion suns, and is located in a very well-studied part of the sky, however it has proved very difficult to see. This because almost all of its energy is emitted at a single wavelength, so you have to be looking for that colour exactly to spot it; most sources emit across the whole spectrum.
Several of these blobs have been found in recent years and no one is entirely sure what they are. The current theory is that the blobs consist of hydrogen falling onto a clump of dark matter; an explanation favoured by Kim Nilsson (ESO) author of the first paper on this particular blob. She says, “We could literally be seeing the building up of a massive galaxy, like our own, the Milky Way”
For more information see http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2006/pr-23-06.html or check out the latest issue of 'Astronomy and Astrophysics'
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