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Hanny’s Adventure in Galaxy Zoo

A charming story has emerged from the austere world of astronomy, proving that amateurs can have their day, even in fields normally dominated by highly specialised experts. RENATE OGILVIE reports that a young teacher and citizen scientist from the Netherlands may well have made one of the most intriguing discoveries in the recent history of that crowded science.

Part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the most comprehensive photographic imagining of the Northern sky which was concluded earlier this year, was the immense task of checking millions of photographic images which had been taken to catalogue distant galaxies. At some stage, the American project director, Alex Szalay, decided to farm out some of the work to hobby star gazers to help with the more routine tasks.

He was expecting a few hundred to respond to his internet request, but seven thousand volunteers from all over the world replied, ready for basic training, and then to classify objects on the photographs using a basic identification system. They named the enterprise Galaxy Zoo, and Szalay was thrilled: ‘It blew my mind. You read in the papers that people are not interested in science.'

But it got better. Towards the end of last year, Hanny a Dutch teacher and one of the ‘Zooties‘, contacted the organisers and asked what the strange formation was that she had found on one of the photos. Initially her request was  treated along with dozens of other routine inquiries.

But when the object was finally scrutinized it turned out to be a sensation - it was large, green and unlike anything ever seen before, radiating a huge amount of light, its source mysterious. Hanny named it a voorwerp, Dutch for object or thing.

But the baffled research community called it the ‘mystery cloud'. Powerful instruments like the Swift satellite telescope which picks up ultraviolet and x-ray emissions were pointed at the strange formation but they saw nothing. All it  proved was that Hanny's Thing was not a stellar nursery like Minkowski's object, where starbursts are  fuelled by radio jets emitted by black holes in a nearby galaxy, accompanied by a typical ultraviolet signature.

Theories abound. Hanny's Thing might be lit by a dead quasar tumbling through a small galaxy. It might be the result of a tiny galaxy being thrashed by a larger one during a collision. Or it could have been affected by a quasar formed  when stars fell into a neighbouring black hole. Or it is simply something entirely new.

Hanny's Thing is now being lined up for scrutiny by the Hubble Space Telescope early next year on the Dutch hobby astronomer‘s birthday. Scientists are eagerly waiting for results and think that this is 'the coolest bit of science' they have done in years.

The green mystery cloud, Hanny's sensational Show and Tell, once again shows that the limitations of our mind and knowledge are not necessarily the limitations of reality. And it's pleasing to think of Hanny and the voorwerp on her home computer, a young woman about to make her name in scientific history.

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If anyone roams across Sydney as much as I do, then one would inevitably find oneself raising that hand, getting into that taxi and dreading that meter going up and up while he takes you to your destination.

But like many others, I've found that some of the best conversations I've ever had were with cabbies.

The last one I met was a Polish engineer who proceeded to explain to me how to pave the outside of my house from scratch, because the "professionals" don't know how to do it properly. He was unimpressed and blatantly questioned why I was studying law while stating that "engineers are respected a lot more in Europe than in the West". Honestly, he seemed far more educated than me.

Before him there was another driver who engaged me in a stimulating conversation about Indian poetry and literature. With another, I had an argument about raising children in different cultures.

The reason for this is one that we've heard almost too often - qualified immigrants come to Australia, their expertise is refused recognition, and they get stuck driving people around the city when their true skills obviously lie elsewhere.

We can't help these guys get a job. But next time you sit in a cab, don't be afraid to have a chat. You never know who you might be talking to.  

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This entire fiasco is an incredible over reaction. Australia is an easy target. Why? because we are honest, transperant and we talk about our failings. Is there aggression and iolence in Australia? Sure, like any country. But we face it head on and we work to eliminate it. What about the stories of the 100’s of thousands of Indian workers who are treated as slaves in the middle east and nobody says anything? What about the fact that India still has entrenched pedophilia in terms of child brides? What about the crushing poverty embraced by more than 60% of the Indian people while this nation runs around building nuclear warheads? A storm in a teacup, an over reaction, and a diversion from some the really bad issues facing India. What is really happening here is that students are being unnecessarily frightened. meaning they will miss out on what could be the opportunity of their lifetime. - Daryl
 
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I couldn't agree with Sean Maguire's article more on the recent Indian attacks. For all those who like the pretend the attacks are merely based on coincidence, try to imagine how we would react if the boot were on the other foot and an uncharacteristic number of Australia's had been murdered in India. Would you push for a travel ban? Would you be scared for your children in a seemingly hostile environment so many miles away?  - Kara Jensen-Mackinnon

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