- @
- Followers:
No Tweets Found
CNN POLITICS ON FACEBOOK » | CNN POLITICS ON TWITTER »
Hubble finds ghostly object in deep space
There's a green blob in space, but unlike a bad science fiction movie, it's not coming to take over Earth. Probably.
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image of a green cloud of gas about 650 million light-years from Earth. It's been named Hanny's Voorwerp, Dutch for Hanny's Object.
The object is illuminated by a beam of light from a quasar that may have gone dark 200,000 years ago, according to the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
The Voorwerp is about the size of our Milky Way galaxy and is part of a 300,000-light-year-long stream of gas, the institute says. The green color is from glowing oxygen.
What appears to be a gaping hole in Hanny's Voorwerp actually may be a shadow cast by an object in the quasar's light path, according to the institute.
"This phenomenon is similar to a fly on a movie projector lens casting a shadow on a movie screen," the institute says.
The object may have been formed by a collision of two galaxies, according to the institute.
But don't worry. It won't bump into our galaxy within our lifetime.
Probably.
On Twitter
On Twitter
@cnnbrk on Twitter
Am I the only one that recognizes this as the planet eating doomsday machine from episode 4 of the original Star Trek?? The green glow of course is from the neutronium hull.
Can someone explain what is 650 million light years from earth mean ? what is a light year ?
A light year is the distance light travels in one year. Light travels at 186,000 miles/sec (the speed of light is a universal constant, the C of E=MC^2). A year is 60*60*24*356= 31536000 seconds, so light travels 5865696000000 miles in one year. Or, to put in numbers we're familiar with from our national debt, light travels almost 6 trillion miles per year.
Horrible reporting.
CNN's lowest interns must be the ones in the tech / science reporting dept.
Bummer.
My thoughts exactly. They don't know the facts at all. Hubble didn't discover this—A woman from the Netherlands did on GalaxyZoo. They don't even understand basic astronomical concepts. I have a feeling they learned the word quasar shortly after they submitted the article for proofs.
Relax, it's just my Death Eaters calling me to come kill that Potter brat already.
The Milky Way is about 100,000 *light years* in diameter. A light year is about 5 trillion miles.
I just looked into my shorts and found brown streak skid mark.....I named it too. Anybody want to look before it goes on Ebay?
Maybe we'll get a closer look at this thing in mid-December, 2012
Looks like god blew his nose.
I kind of like the use of "Probably" throughout the article – At least they show that it could actually happen. Probably...
ET is coming! Arrival date: December 22, 2012. In other news, you're all invited to a party on December 21, 2012. No reason. Just want a party. Just in case........
I think you should change the party to the 20th ... last heard the world will end on 11:11 on the 21st... so, party might not happen... 🙂
so there you have it people, this explains the dead birds and fish..
Why would somebody name a galaxy after a candy bar?
I don't know, but I must say, I am a huge fan! You should have won female aritst of the year!!!
I know huh?
What's Oxygen?
Looks like a huge space penis (seriously, its from the "undercarraige" point of view) like a mouse looking up.
Your right! Puts a new meaning to "Space Junk."
The Hulk made a poopie!!