Astroboffins spy the most ancient protocluster of galaxies yet found post Big Bang

The oldest protocluster of galaxies found to date began clumping together some 13 billion years ago, when the universe was just 6 per cent of its current age. A global team of 36 astrophysicists led by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) studying data taken from the Keck and Gemini Observatory and the Subaru …

[jake]

Somebody is bound to ask "Why waste the money on this???" ...

... so allow me to preemptively provide a one word answer:

Science.

[Blackjack]

Re: Somebody is bound to ask "Why waste the money on this???" ...

And is still less money than what politicians waste on [insert text here].

[Blockchain commentard]

And what's older than these? Your mum!!!!

[sbt]

Nah, if it was a big bang...

... it was yo momma.

Top shelf boffinry, tho'.

[Tom 7]

Arse about face

"Tracing the formation of the largest structures in the universe" should be "Spotting the galaxies that form first in the density anomalies that formed in the big bang and will coalesce into the largest structures of the universe".

[RegGuy1]

Paragraph out of line

Wow! The gravitational force is so big it's pulled one paragraph into another! You don't see that often.

[sitta_europea]

Very soon we should be able to infer what's beyond the bounds of the visible universe by looking at the motion of things which aren't.

That will be fun.

[Tom 7]

Slight relativistic problem there.

[stratofish]

“However, we're surprised to see that Himiko was located not in the center of the protocluster, but on the edge 500 million light-years away from the center."

At 800 million years after the big bang, that would have covered a sizeable part of the universe, 10% or so maybe? Or do they mean it is now that far away?

[Kibble 2]

The distance to Himiko wasn't stated in the article, and is apparently just another large galaxy within the z66OD protocluster. [z66OD is] "the oldest protocluster of galaxies found to date began clumping together some 13 billion years ago."

Basically the Reg article is click bait, but still demonstrates interesting science.

[Anonymous Coward]

"500 million light-years" I'm at a loss. How much is that in London buses?

[Winkypop]

London buses

Pre 1965 models or post?

[Ugotta B. Kiddingme]

I, for one...

will "Kneel before Z(66)OD."

[Tromos]

most ancient protocluster of galaxies yet found post Big Bang

Yawn. Wake me up when they find some pre Big Bang.