Philosophy
Hanny van Arkel
"Hanny's Voorwerp"
Another example of the value of amateur scientists.
A Dutch primary school teacher has accidentally discovered what some are calling a cosmic space "ghost" — a strange, greenish, gaseous object with a hole in the middle that may represent a new type of astronomical phenomena.
The teacher, Hanny van Arkel, stumbled upon the cosmic object in 2007 while doing volunteer work for Galaxy Zoo, a Web site that enlists the public's help in identifying galaxies. Van Arkel, 25, says she got involved with Galaxy Zoo because she's a fan of Brian May, the guitarist from the rock band Queen, who also volunteers.
The Zoo sought out volunteers because it had a backlog of celestial images but almost no computers that could process the images. Van Arkel was one of 150,000 volunteers who assisted in classifying more than 1 million galaxies over the past year.
During one of her assignments, the armchair astronomer says she saw something that "looked like a regular galaxy but much bluer." Van Arkel tells Scott Simon that she had no idea her discovery was so important until she spoke with Galaxy Zoo's scientists, affectionately called Zoo Keepers.
The cosmic object has been nicknamed "Hanny's Voorwerp." The greenish Voorwerp does not contain any stars and is made entirely of very hot gas. It is illuminated by remnant light from a nearby galaxy.
"At first we thought it was a distant galaxy, but we realized there were no stars in it so that it must be a cloud of gas," Dr. Chris Lintott of Oxford University, who helped launch Galaxy Zoo, says in a press release.
He says astronomers think it may be light from a quasar, "the bright, stormy center of a distant galaxy powered by a supermassive black hole."
"The quasar itself is no longer visible to us, but its light continues to travel through space and the Voorwerp is a massive 'light echo' produced as this light strikes the gas," Lintott says in the statement.
When asked how her students reacted to their teacher's newfound stardom, Van Arkel says, "I've had a lot of e-mails and messages from my students, from people I haven't spoken to in years, from people I haven't spoken to ever in my life. It's fun."
And she says she'll keep searching the skies.
"It's not that I think that next week I will discover something else, but there's Galaxy Zoo 2 coming, so they still need us around and I will surely be involved," Van Arkel says.
More detailed information...
"Hanny's Voorwerp"
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Philosophy
Value of amateur scientists--"Hanny's Voorwerp"
Hanny van Arkel"Hanny's Voorwerp""Dutch Teacher Stumbles Upon A Space 'Ghost'"
August 9th, 2008
NPR
August 9th, 2008
NPR
A Dutch primary school teacher has accidentally discovered what some are calling a cosmic space "ghost" — a strange, greenish, gaseous object with a hole in the middle that may represent a new type of astronomical phenomena.
The teacher, Hanny van Arkel, stumbled upon the cosmic object in 2007 while doing volunteer work for Galaxy Zoo, a Web site that enlists the public's help in identifying galaxies. Van Arkel, 25, says she got involved with Galaxy Zoo because she's a fan of Brian May, the guitarist from the rock band Queen, who also volunteers.
The Zoo sought out volunteers because it had a backlog of celestial images but almost no computers that could process the images. Van Arkel was one of 150,000 volunteers who assisted in classifying more than 1 million galaxies over the past year.
During one of her assignments, the armchair astronomer says she saw something that "looked like a regular galaxy but much bluer." Van Arkel tells Scott Simon that she had no idea her discovery was so important until she spoke with Galaxy Zoo's scientists, affectionately called Zoo Keepers.
The cosmic object has been nicknamed "Hanny's Voorwerp." The greenish Voorwerp does not contain any stars and is made entirely of very hot gas. It is illuminated by remnant light from a nearby galaxy.
"At first we thought it was a distant galaxy, but we realized there were no stars in it so that it must be a cloud of gas," Dr. Chris Lintott of Oxford University, who helped launch Galaxy Zoo, says in a press release.
He says astronomers think it may be light from a quasar, "the bright, stormy center of a distant galaxy powered by a supermassive black hole."
"The quasar itself is no longer visible to us, but its light continues to travel through space and the Voorwerp is a massive 'light echo' produced as this light strikes the gas," Lintott says in the statement.
When asked how her students reacted to their teacher's newfound stardom, Van Arkel says, "I've had a lot of e-mails and messages from my students, from people I haven't spoken to in years, from people I haven't spoken to ever in my life. It's fun."
And she says she'll keep searching the skies.
"It's not that I think that next week I will discover something else, but there's Galaxy Zoo 2 coming, so they still need us around and I will surely be involved," Van Arkel says.
More detailed information...
"Hanny's Voorwerp"
Amateur scientists
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"Hubble has 3 more years to make amazing discoveries, NASA says" by Karen Kaplan March 23rd, 2013 Los Angeles Times Scientists and space junkies got some good news from NASA on Friday: The space agency announced it would keep the Hubble Space Telescope...
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"Astronomer Tom’s years of reaching for the stars" November 18th, 2012 Bury Free Press World record breaking astronomer Tom Boles has discovered more supernovas than anyone in history, has had an asteroid named after him and has even had the Hubble...
- Never Too Young...kathryn Aurora Gray
"10-year old girl becomes youngest to discover a supernova" by Brian Osborne January 5th, 2011 geek.com While some kids may want to be an astronomer when they grow up, one ten-year old girl has decided not to wait. Astronomy is not only in her blood,...
- Deceased--john Huchra
John Huchra December 23rd, 1948 to October 8th, 2010 "John Huchra Dies at 61; Maps Altered Ideas on Universe" by Dennis Overbye October 13th, 2010 The New York Times John Huchra, a man who loved telescopes and whose pioneering maps of a bubbly universe...
- Amateur Scientist Will Collaborate With Astronomers
David Gamey Another example of a society of amateur scientists working with professionals. "SCIENCE: Amateur astronomer gets access to space telescope" MOST telescope to study Betelgeuse this December by Tamara Shephard September 16th, 2008 The Guardian...