Galaxy Zoo Produces a Rare Specimen

We discussed the Galaxy Zoo project soon after it launched last summer. Science News is now following developments about an odd celestial object that is fueling a lot of excitement among astronomers around the world. In August, a Dutch schoolteacher named Hanny, in the process of characterizing galaxy images, noticed a peculiar object and posted a query about it on the Galaxy Zoo blog. She called it a "Voorwerp," which Science News says is Dutch for "thing" but which Google translates as "subject." Hanny's Voorwerp emits mostly green light (the earlier report said blue). The best guess astronomers have now is that the Voorwerp is emitting "ghost light," i.e. it is "lit by the ultraviolet light and X-rays from a quasar that has vanished in the last 100,000 years," to quote astronomer Bill Keel. "As far as we can tell, it's an unprecedented thing," Keel added. Researchers are scrambling to book time on the Hubble and other major telescopes to get a closer look.

Comments

image in the post?

[anotherone]

this is the first time I've ever seen slashdot put an image in the post- welcome to 2001, guys!

Re:image in the post?

[digidave]

Do you mean Borg Gates isn't good enough for you?

Hey....

[Izabael_DaJinn]

That's my taxi-ride home. Thank Xenu!

It is an Excession..

[sayfawa]

..and we're about to have an Outside Context Problem

Voorwerp?

[thewiz]

I didn't know that was a word.
That was the sound I made last time I threw up.
Whodathunkit.

Re:Voorwerp?

[hkz]

I'm Dutch, and the proper translation of voorwerp is actually 'object', though 'thing' comes close enough. We have a funny language sometimes. I like words like 'zodra' and 'zoiets', and saying 'goeiemorgen' has the benefit of being offensive to Russians the way we pronounce it, which since yesterday is a good thing :-)

Re:Voorwerp?

[Angostura]

Mind if I go off-topic for a moment, since there is an expert in the room? No, good.

Several years ago, when I was in France, I took a group of children to racing stables where they bred racing horses - a stud farm. While we were walking around, we met a charming, well-spoken Dutch couple in their 60s who chatted about this and that, and then indicating the breeding stables asked "So, tell me - do you have fuckeries like this England?" At least that's what I'm 90% sure they said.

I presume that "fuck" exists in the Dutch language and that their on-the-fly translation attempt misfired?

Re:Voorwerp?

[Askmum]

To which there is a little dutch joke.
A Dutch guy talks to an English guy:
D: I fok horses!
E: Pardon?
D: Yes, paarden!

Explanation: the term "fok horses" is the above misconjunction of fokken -> to fuck, instead of breed, and pardon, when spoken, can be misconstrued as "paarden" which is dutch for "horses".

Re:What's the rush?

[negRo_slim]

To beat the other astronomers.

It's Slashdot 1st post syndrome in the real world!

Re:Obviously An Ad For...

[K. S. Kyosuke]

You mean...could this really be...the Great Green Arkleseizure? It looks green enough to me, and surely will not fit into my back yard.