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Dutch School Teacher Finds New Intergalactic Object

by Terrence O'Brien on August 10, 2008 at 02:12 PM

Dutch School Teacher Finds New Intergalactic Object
It's called Hanny's Voorwerp, after its discoverer Hanny Van Arkel and the Dutch word for object. Van Arkel noticed the green blob while using the Web site Galaxy Zoo, where volunteers pour over images of galaxies and other cosmic objects and help scientists categorize them.

Scientists believe that the Voorwerp was lit up by a powerful quasar (a massive black hole that blasts light and radio waves into space) that has since gone dark, leaving behind the light echo that keeps the gas cloud glowing (a result of the light having to travel insanely long distances to the Voorwerp).

The object had been categorized before, but its significance was only noticed when the 25-year-old amateur astronomer Van Arkel realized that it did not match any of the known galaxy types in the Galaxy Zoo catalog. Hanny's Voorwerp is the only object of its type ever discovered. Scientists are planning more in-depth analysis with the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes in La Palma, Spain. [Source: BBC]

Tags: astronomy, hannys vorwerp, HannysVorwerp, science, space

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