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Amateur Astronomer Spots ‘Cosmic Ghost’ Unknown Until Now

msnbc.msn.com — A Dutch primary school teacher and amateur astronomer has discovered what some are calling a "cosmic ghost," a strange, gaseous object with a hole in the middle that may represent a new class of astronomical object

Who dugg this? Made popular Aug 6, 2008

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  • TheFinaleofSeem, on 08/06/2008, -1/+29"a strange, gaseous object with a hole in the middle"

    Sounds like Uranus to me...
  • FallOutBoyTonto, on 08/06/2008, -0/+25And it was discovered by an amateur astronomer! Encouragement for all the other hobbyists looking to the stars in hope of finding something undiscovered. Even after the many many years that humans have been using telescopes to look up. AWESOME!
  • yetAnotherCroc, on 08/06/2008, -3/+24Duh, we discovered this years ago. It even had its own talkshow for a while.
  • gobbleplex, on 08/06/2008, -2/+17I miss Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
  • inactive, on 08/05/2008, -2/+16A phenomena that puts a kink in the latest cosmic theories. Way to go!
  • drlha, on 08/06/2008, -0/+12Lets clarify here, it wasn't discovered by a guy looking through his own telescope. It was discovered by the guy looking through images taken for the Sloan Digital Sky survey by a telescope built for the task. So not the usual "amateur astronomer" discovery, but even better in that anyone who goes to Galaxy Zoo website could have made this discovery.
  • SkippyDoorknob, on 08/06/2008, -1/+13Spaaaaace Ghooooooost!
  • RapidEye, on 08/06/2008, -0/+9Well, sorta...
    She was reviewing data taken by pro astronomers and posted on Galaxy Zoo for amateurs to review.

    You can't see this object with amateur gear.
  • billwild, on 08/06/2008, -2/+9That's not a cosmic ghost, its a space station!
  • RapidEye, on 08/06/2008, -0/+5Pssst - "He" is a "She"
    Hanny is a 24-year-old female dutch science teacher
  • mrlivingston, on 08/06/2008, -1/+6Clearly, it's The Blob. And it's headed straight for Earth.
  • EarlOfLade, on 08/06/2008, -0/+4And you can all try to find similar objects. I have classified thousands of galaxies and found some interesting objects, probably nothing special, but it is fun and easy to do, so why not join www.galaxyzoo.org
  • Pother, on 08/06/2008, -0/+4Dugg because its astronomy, and has nothing to do with Obama or McCain.
    But geez this is OLD NEWS.

    And "voorwerp" means "object".
  • SkippyDoorknob, on 08/06/2008, -1/+4A big whole what?
  • karmazon, on 08/06/2008, -2/+4Rise of the silver surfer
  • Iztikeit, on 08/06/2008, -0/+2Quasar echo?
  • RapidEye, on 08/06/2008, -0/+2How many times is this going to hit the front page?!?!

    Here is a related paper that is being published about the object:
    http://www.galaxyzooblog.org/2008/08/06/galaxy-zoo ...

    It might be a quasar light echo.
  • HanSolo69, on 08/06/2008, -1/+3"And "voorwerp" means "object"."

    O RLY? Thanks. I didn't understand that when the article told me. You're a real life saver.
  • damonic, on 08/06/2008, -1/+3Hey guys - this looks like a booger on the end of the telescope.
  • acura86, on 08/06/2008, -1/+3It's what's left of Krypton
  • inactive, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1It doesn't remotely resemble a ghost. Should we call it Cosmic Donut instead. Please?
  • sn0wmis3r, on 08/06/2008, -1/+2I thought we can't see green in space, or is that just stars or something?

    edit: found the article: http://digg.com/space/Why_are_there_no_green_stars
    i guess it's just stars, but that doesn't make any sense to me
  • inactive, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1Yeah thanks goodness. Obama McCain Clinton are all over the places these days.
  • inactive, on 08/06/2008, -0/+1Not only the universe is stranger than we suppose, but it is stranger than we can suppose.
  • tattertech, on 08/06/2008, -1/+2Like a hotdog down a hallway.
  • inactive, on 08/06/2008, -1/+2You either discover a cosmic ghost or you don't, you arrogant punk!
  • fnordy, on 08/06/2008, -1/+2SPAAAACCCCCE GHOST!
  • sering, on 11/30/2008, -0/+1http://greatcar.freehostia.com
    http://forexposed.com
    http://tembol.freehostia.com/
    http://dianika.com/hotel
    http://dianika.com/insurance/
    http://remboka.freehostia.com
    http://wekoman.ej.am
    http://wungka.freehostia.com/
    http://unik.blogetery.com/
    http://p812.com
    http://nasavo.com
  • Depravo, on 08/06/2008, -4/+5That's why they are only theories.
  • megamod, on 08/06/2008, -1/+1It seems like they've known about it but it was on their "to do list" they just got it out of archive now and it's finally getting the expert's attention it deserves.


    "It's amazing to think that this object has been sitting in the archives for decades and that amateur volunteers can help by spotting things like this online," van Arkel said in a statement.
  • DraxusD, on 08/06/2008, -1/+1It's the lame film version of Galactus
  • inactive, on 08/06/2008, -1/+1I see dead gases...
  • OfNumbers, on 08/06/2008, -1/+1Reminds me of when CNN, NBC, Fox, BBC, CBC, etc. reported on that German teen finding a new planet in our solar system. Kind of like all those cures for AIDS and Cancer too.
  • britblogger, on 08/06/2008, -1/+1"a strange, gaseous object with a hole in the middle"

    wasn't that the woman that was "destroyed by Quentin Tarantino" on the front page this morning?
  • chrissku, on 08/06/2008, -1/+1It looks like ectoplasm. Call these fellas....


    http://connect.afi.com/images/content/photos/large ...
  • plainOldFool, on 08/06/2008, -3/+3Xenu?
  • MasterGrief, on 08/06/2008, -1/+1A space ghost?!
  • blatant3, on 08/06/2008, -2/+2Maybe it's Jeebus
  • damienv5, on 08/06/2008, -1/+1**quickly swipes hand over head**
  • slifty, on 08/06/2008, -1/+1Oh no! And now that the polar ice caps are melting (SPOILER ALERT) how are we gonna keep it frozen?

  • zadadka, on 08/06/2008, -1/+1Correct.
    Also http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/200 ...
  • diggydougie, on 08/06/2008, -1/+1They are just guessing about what it is. Nobody really knows. It's amazing how they come up with made up explanations on the fly just to sound intelligent. They don't even know how far away it is.
  • urgeigh, on 08/06/2008, -1/+1It's definitely Slimer, imo.
  • bluebirdgm, on 08/06/2008, -1/+1Zoiks! A G-G-G-G-GHOST!
  • wondertwins, on 08/06/2008, -2/+1this is when we call the : GHOST BUSTERS!
  • dangerdooms, on 08/06/2008, -2/+1"Who do you think you are?"
    "I think the universe knows who I am, Space Ghost."
    "Then who do you think the universe knows I am, Denis?"
    "Space Ghost. And I'm Denis Leary, master of the universe."
    "Master? I know one or two guys who might disagree with you... master!"
    "Like who?"
    "Yoda"
    "Okay, who else on the list?"
    "Star Wars."
  • kdbarrett, on 08/06/2008, -1/+0It's Slimer!
  • mmlenz, on 08/06/2008, -1/+0Its heaven. Here drink this coolaid with me and we'll go there together.
  • jorichter, on 08/06/2008, -2/+0YEE-HAW!
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