A Terrifying Incident in Space!
Hanny's back, this time with a plausible story. Back in 2007, Hanny van Arkel, a Dutch schoolteacher, was on her computer happily classifying galaxies on Galaxy Zoo and was about to click Next, when she thought, "Wait. What was that?" At first, nobody knew: it was green, it glowed, it was shapeless, they called it Voorwerp.
Eventually, after astronomers burned up telescope time looking at the Voorwerp in optical, radio, ultraviolet and xrays, they decided it was a blob of gas whose oxygen—oxygen is green, you know that, don't you—was being lit up by something going on in a nearby galaxy with the unforgettable name of IC 2497. Finally astronomers got time on the Hubble Space Telescope (which is a little like getting time with the Pope) and have not only taken this pretty picture, they think they have the story.
IC 2497 isn't the innocent, uninteresting little spiral galaxy they thought. It's skewed and it's violent. Another galaxy collided with it, and the collision riled up a lot of messy gas, some of which got warped into a long, invisible tail around IC 2497, and some of it got pulled into IC 2497's center where unbeknownst lurked a dead black hole. The black hole came alive, sucked in the gas, lit up, and sent out a jet of high-energy light that turned a part of the long tail green and made the Voorwerp. A little later, shock waves in the gas hit the Voorwerp and created small, yellow-orange stars in it. As fireworks, it must have been spectacular: CRASH, whoooosh, ssssss, BLAMMO, WHAM, tinkle, tinkle, tinkle.
After it was all over, IC 2497's black hole went back to sleep.
About the only thing left to figure out is why the Voorwerp seems to have a hole in it and why the hole's edges are so smooth: maybe it's really a shadow. Maybe when the black hole was active, its light got blocked by something nearby, and I'd rather not think about it. Meanwhile, at the astronomical conference where all this is being announced, Hanny remains her own natural self, being treated like a movie star, getting interviewed by the media, and feeling silly about it all.
Ann Finkbeiner is a coproprietor of The Last Word on Nothing.
So now we have to be on the lookout not just for asteroids and comets but also galaxies?
Them and white guys with poor ontological arguments.
This story remains fascinating.
And yes, judging from her website, Hanny seems to be taking it all in stride. Quoting Glenn Frey, posing for Playboy (with clothes on, as far as one can tell), life in the fast lane. And, gosh, Voorwerp: what a word!
It all sounds like something my 8-year-old would make up for a school imaginitive writing assignment. Including 'voorwerp.'
And since this is all hot hot hot news and just this instant off embargo, here's the Galaxy Zoo blog post that explains every detail: http://blogs.zooniverse.org/galaxyzoo/2011/01/10/hannys-voorwerp-and-hubble-what-did-we-learn/
You'll note the picture and the shadow/hole that mysteriously got cropped out of this here post.
"Voorwerp" sounds like an unspeakable Dutch sexual act.
or a menu listing at the Abraxas "coffee" shop.
IC 2497 is 730 million light years away…does this mean all this happened 730 million years ago?
Now I have a headache. The press release says the black hole turned off 200,000 years ago. The galaxy is 730 million LY away — actually, 650 million LY — away. So yes, it happened 650 million years ago. So how come the picture shows the galaxy with the black hole on the OFF position? Here, you figure it out: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2011/01/full/
650 years ago? And we're just hearing about it now? Typical liburl media.
I especially loved the sound effects in this.
yes, particularly the tinkling bits
The black hole came alive, sucked in the gas, lit up, and sent out a jet of high-energy light?
What is sayyhatscool's night in with the missus?
It happens whenever I drink Guinness. I can't help it.
"IC 2497 isn't the innocent, uninteresting little spiral galaxy they thought. It's skewed and it's violent…some of it got pulled into IC 2497's center where unbeknownst lurked a dead black hole."
oh Christ this about me, isn't it.
Space is rad. That is all.