Hanny van Arkel, who made the surprising cosmic discovery
Posted on 08/06/2008 6:02:25 PM PDT by traumer
A new class of cosmic object has been found by a Dutch schoolteacher, through a project which allows the public to take part in astronomy research online.
Hanny Van Arkel, 25, came across the strange gaseous blob while using the Galaxy Zoo website to help classify galaxies in telescope images.
Astronomers subsequently confirmed that the object was one-of-a-kind. The work has been submitted to the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The object quickly became known as "Hanny's Voorwerp" - Voorwerp being the Dutch word for "object".
Researchers think this green blob got its energy from light emitted by a quasar (a powerful radiation source powered by a supermassive black hole) that has since gone dim.
They think the quasar was hosted in a nearby spiral galaxy called IC 2497. It was so bright that, if the quasar was still active, it would be visible from Earth with binoculars. identify more unusual objects such as Hanny's Voorwerp.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Hanny van Arkel, who made the surprising cosmic discovery
NOT GUILTY!
I’m glad Hanny’s Voorwerp was discovered.
I see the Voorwerp now, it’s below the globular clusters.
I was just thinking the same thing.
*groan*
Laz would...
/johnny
Now we know where Jim Hensen went when he died.
hey, nice photog.
Amateur astronomer spies gassy “cosmic ghost” (”Hanny’s Voorwerp”)
Reuters on Yahoo | 8/10/08 | Reuters
Posted on 08/05/2008 7:29:54 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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