Astronomers had predicted that such a structure would exist. Computer models had suggested that some of the most massive galaxies in our universe originated from a blob like this.
"We knew these kind of structures would be out there, but something of this size is relatively rare, and it is really nice to hear that one has been found," Best said.
Some of the gas bubbles in the blob are as much as 400,000 light-years acrossnearly twice the size of our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
The astronomers think that these blobs may have collapsed under their own gravity and given birth to "supergalaxies"the most massive galaxies that exist in the universe today.
"These structures are exciting precisely because they give us clues as to what our own part of the universe may have looked like billions of years ago," said Marek Kukula, also from the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh.
"It should help us to piece together the story of how our own galaxyand, ultimately, ourselvescame to be."
Free Email News Updates
Best Online Newsletter, 2006 Codie Awards
Sign up for our Inside National Geographic newsletter. Every two weeks we'll send you our top stories and pictures (see sample).
SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES