Hanny's Voorwerp (Object)



Hanny's Voorwerp is a very rare type of astronomical object called a quasar ionization echo. It was discovered in 2007 by Dutch school teacher Hanny van Arkel, while she was participating as a volunteer in the Galaxy Zoo project. Photographically, it appears as a bright blob close to spiral galaxy IC 2497 in the constellation Leo Minor.

One hypothesis suggests that HsV consists of remnants of a small galaxy showing the impact of radiation from a bright quasar event that occurred in the center of IC 2497 about 100,000 years before the way it is observed today. The quasar event is thought to have stimulated the bright emission that characterizes HsV. The quasar might have switched off in the last 200,000 years and is not visible in the available images. This might well be due to a process known as AGN feedback. Continue reading







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