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Teacher finds new cosmic object
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News



The object is lit up by a long-dead quasar
A new class of cosmic object has been found by a Dutch schoolteacher, through a project which allows the public to take part in astronomy research online.

Hanny Van Arkel, 25, came across the strange gaseous blob while using the Galaxy Zoo website to help classify galaxies in telescope images.

Astronomers subsequently confirmed that the object was one-of-a-kind.

The work has been submitted to the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The object quickly became known as "Hanny's Voorwerp" - Voorwerp being the Dutch word for "object". The Voorwerp is a massive 'light echo' produced as the light strikes the gas

Dr Chris Lintott, University of Oxford

Researchers think this green blob got its energy from light emitted by a quasar (a powerful radiation source powered by a supermassive black hole) that has since gone dim.

They think the quasar was hosted in a nearby spiral galaxy called IC 2497. It was so bright that, if the quasar was still active, it would be visible from Earth with binoculars.

However, because of the distance between the galaxy and the Voorwerp, light from the quasar would have taken tens of thousands of years to reach the gaseous blob.

COSMOSKARLSAGAN