Hanny Van Arkel is a primary school teacher from the Netherlands. Arkel discovered a new astronomical object in space using the website Galaxy Zoo. Arkel's discovery has been described as a "cosmic ghost" and has been nicknamed "Hanny's Voorwerp." The object is a green, glowing mass of gases with a hole in the center.
Hanny Van Arkel Quote
"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. It was a fantastic present to find out on my 25th birthday that we will get observational time on the Hubble Space Telescope to follow-up this discovery."—Hanny Van Arkel
References
Fast Facts
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Age
25 years old in 2008
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Occupation
Primary school teacher
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Fact:
Discovered new astronomical object using the website Galaxy Zoo
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Fact:
Object described as a cosmic ghost
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Fact:
Object has been dubbed "Hanny's Voorwerp"
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Fact:
Voorwerp is "object" in Dutch
