So far, the blob has been unavailable for comment...

However, it does have a name: 'Himiko' a reference to a mysterious Japanese queen.

The newly discovered blob was named by Masami Ouchi of the Carnegie Institution for Science, lead researcher of an international team of astronomers. 

The most distant and ancient large object ever spotted - Himiko's existence poses a mystery for astronomers and cosmologists.

It's old

At 12.9 billion light-years distance, it's one of the oldest objects ever spotted through any telescope.  It's vast distance means that we are seeing the light from the blob travelling to us from over 12.9 billlion years ago - we therefore see the blob as it was at this time.  

It's very big

Himiko is a large object for this epoch in the evolution of the universe.  At roughly 55,000 light years in size, it's comparable to the radius of our own galaxy presently.  Other known gas blobs don't appear for another 1-2 billion years. 

It's a mystery

Researchers have a few ideas on what the blob might be.  Ionized gas, heated by a super-massive black hole, a single large early galaxy, a collision between two young galaxies, or a region of unusually high star formation.

In any case, Himiko challenges present models of early galaxy formation.

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