Attack of the mystery green blobs
Nov. 4th, 2011 07:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
steorra posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
astronomyAttack of the mystery green blobs
In 2007, Hanny van Arkel, a Dutch schoolteacher, was classifying galaxies on the Galaxy Zoo project, and she came across a weird image of something that didn't look like an ordinary galaxy. It was so unlike anything previously known that it was initially called 'Hannys Voorwerp', Dutch for 'Hanny's object', and the name has stuck.
It turns out to be a galaxy-scale cloud of ionized oxygen and neon, apparently ionized thanks to past activity from a neighbouring black hole.
Now it turns out that it's not alone - 19 similar objects have been identified, most of which are near a pair of interacting or merging galaxies, which probably caused the X-rays that ionized their gases.
In 2007, Hanny van Arkel, a Dutch schoolteacher, was classifying galaxies on the Galaxy Zoo project, and she came across a weird image of something that didn't look like an ordinary galaxy. It was so unlike anything previously known that it was initially called 'Hannys Voorwerp', Dutch for 'Hanny's object', and the name has stuck.
It turns out to be a galaxy-scale cloud of ionized oxygen and neon, apparently ionized thanks to past activity from a neighbouring black hole.
Now it turns out that it's not alone - 19 similar objects have been identified, most of which are near a pair of interacting or merging galaxies, which probably caused the X-rays that ionized their gases.
