Daily Image
27-11-2008
Hanny van Arkel - This week's colloquium speaker!
| Submitter: | Michael Garrett |
| Description: | In 2007, Dutch school teacher, Hanny van Arkel, discovered what is surely one of the most bizarre objects discovered via the GalaxyZoo.org morphological census, SDSS J094103.80+344334.2. This object, now known as "Hanny's voorwerp" appears as an irregular cloud (see the blue nebulosity above) located about 60000 light years from the galaxy IC 2497. There is a long tradition of amateur astronomers making important discoveries in our field, and the collaboration between amateurs and professionals is one of the interesting facets of astronomy that sets it aside from almost every other science. The power of the internet has made possible projects such as Galaxy Zoo and SETI@home - its clear that the role of the amateur astronomer is more important than ever before. Since Hanny made her discovery she has become a bit of an international celebrity. Articles have appeared in the front pages of the international press, the national newspapers and tv here in the Netherlands and in the news sections of top journals like Nature, New Scientist etc. Most recently Hanny appeared on the "Sky at Night" with Patrick Moore, and has been touring the Netherlands giving talks to schools and societies - in September she also appeared on"De Wereld Draait Door". Hanny is this week's (27th of November) colloquium speaker and she will tell us about the Galaxy Zoo project and her famous discovery. Recent e-VLBI and WSRT results that shed new light on this mystery object will also be briefly presented by ASTRON staff. We hope for a large turnout from across all ASTRON's divisions! |
| Copyright: | ASTRON |
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