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Space & Astronomy

Hubble zooms in on Hanny's oddity

By T.K. Randall
January 12, 2011 · Comment icon 9 comments

Image Credit: NASA
The Hubble telescope has captured the best images yet of the ghostly green spatial anomaly.
In 2007 a Dutch teacher and amateur astronomer came to the public's attention, Hanny Van Arkel had been participating in NASA's Galaxy Zoo initiative cataloguing deep space images from Sloane Digital Sky Survey when near a spiral galaxy he observed a giant green blob of gas the size of the Milky Way 650 million light years from Earth. Radio studies have highlighted that the anomaly is not simply a cloud of gas but part of a much larger tidal tail 300,000 light years long that wraps around the galaxy.
"We just missed catching the quasar, because it turned off no more than 200,000 years ago, so what we're seeing is the afterglow from the quasar," Keel says. "This implies that it might flicker on and off, which is typical of quasars, but we've never seen such a dramatic change happen so rapidly. "


Source: Science Daily | Comments (9)

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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by Mentalcase 13 years ago
I personally think that it's the birth of a galaxy. Perhaps this is how galaxies form from infancy. Starts with ejected matter from a nearby galaxy, only to form stars, eventually creating a super massive black hole. Which may take billions of years to eventually form. Or, perhaps there is already a black hole there and it has been trapping gases and matter to form new stars. Otherwise, I would assume the nearby galaxy would attract all the matter and pull it in closer. Very cool article! Thanks!
Comment icon #2 Posted by StarMountainKid 13 years ago
If in the future, stars born in this cloud had planetary systems with intelligent life on some of the planets, their inhabitants would have a spectacular view of that galaxy in their night sky. Those planets might still be imbedded in the nebula, what would that look like to the inhabitants? Like an glowing aurora filling the entire sky above them? Early in they're civilizations, what myths would be invented to explain what they see? It's all interesting to think about.
Comment icon #3 Posted by Mentalcase 13 years ago
If in the future, stars born in this cloud had planetary systems with intelligent life on some of the planets, their inhabitants would have a spectacular view of that galaxy in their night sky. Those planets might still be imbedded in the nebula, what would that look like to the inhabitants? Like an glowing aurora filling the entire sky above them? Early in they're civilizations, what myths would be invented to explain what they see? It's all interesting to think about. Yes, a very cool tought! I would imagine the galaxy would appear closer then we would think it does. It could be similar to w... [More]
Comment icon #4 Posted by The Big Boss 13 years ago
Green blobs are cool! Indeed, they are.
Comment icon #5 Posted by Mentalcase 13 years ago
Indeed, they are. That made me laugh!! Hey bigboss, ltns! How ya been brother??
Comment icon #6 Posted by Kitana2010 13 years ago
if you zoom in on the green cloud and kinda tilt your head, it looks like an alien flipping you off. lol!
Comment icon #7 Posted by danielost 13 years ago
If in the future, stars born in this cloud had planetary systems with intelligent life on some of the planets, their inhabitants would have a spectacular view of that galaxy in their night sky. Those planets might still be imbedded in the nebula, what would that look like to the inhabitants? Like an glowing aurora filling the entire sky above them? Early in they're civilizations, what myths would be invented to explain what they see? It's all interesting to think about. the same as it looks for us, we are inside a nebula. and the intel. life will probablr call their galaxy the milky way or wha... [More]
Comment icon #8 Posted by Vigilanis 13 years ago
The joker in me wants to say "Are you sure the last astronaut up there servicing hubble didn't sneeze on the lens?" (I know I know, it wouldn't get out of his helmet lol) But in all seriousness it is a fascinating find and an equally fascinating article. Just shows the universe is a wonderous place that just keeps amazing us with each new discovery.
Comment icon #9 Posted by Moonshine 13 years ago
A new picture may help scientists unravel the mystery of a vast green blob discovered in a galaxy millions of light years away.Read more... I thought this was very interesting. It also helped me understand where some stars came from


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