Hanny's object

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Hanny's Voorwerp ( Hanny's object ), catalog name SDSS J094103.80 + 344334.2, is an astronomical object that was of unknown nature at the time of its discovery. It was discovered in 2007 by the Dutch teacher Hanny van Arkel while participating in the Galaxy Zoo project as an astronomical amateur . In images it shows up as a bright blob near the spiral galaxy IC 2497 in the constellation Little Leo .

Hanny's Voorwerp (greenish) and IC 2497 (spiral galaxy). The picture was taken by the HST 's WFC3 .

description

Hs-2011-01-d-print.jpg

Initially, no stars were discovered in the structure. A picture of the object appeared on the Astronomy Picture of the Day web page using data taken by Dan Smith (Liverpool John Moores University), Peter Herbert and Chris Lintott (University of Hertfordshire) on the 2.5 meter Isaac Newton Telescope . Hanny's Voorwerp is unusually green for an astronomical object and has a few lines in the emission spectrum . It is located 650 million light years away .

In a new image taken by the Hubble telescope , a star formation region was discovered on the side facing the quasar IC 2497. The stars are formed in a small area by the collision with a gas stream that is hurled from the active center of IC 2497 in the direction of Hannys Voorwerp. The glow of Hannys Voorwerp can be explained by earlier active phases of IC 2497. A black hole emitted large amounts of light through accretion and thus stimulated Hannys Voorwerp to shine. The glow that is visible today is an echo of the event that was around 100,000 years ago. The greenish color is due to luminous oxygen. Hannys Voorwerp is part of a larger gas structure stretching 300,000 light years around IC 2497.

The electromagnetic spectrum shows that the object contains hot, highly ionized gas.

research

The object and the neighboring galaxy are currently the subject of active astrophysical research. Observations of IC 2497 with the XMM Newton and Suzaku Space Telescope to explore the supermassive black hole have been approved.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Teacher finds new cosmic object" , BBC, August 5, 2008 (Eng.)
  2. ↑ What is Hannys Voorwerp? - Astronomy Picture of the Day from June 25, 2008.
  3. ↑ Stars in Their Eyes: An armchair astronomer discovers something very odd (Engl.) . In: The Economist , June 28, 2008. Retrieved June 30, 2008. 
  4. ↑ hubblesite.org Hubble Zooms in on a Space Oddity, January 11, 2011 (Eng.)
  5. ↑ Bill Keel's home page: Hanny's Voorwerp (engl.)

Web links