• Random

    Posted on September 2nd, 2010

    Written by BillKeel

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    “Hanny and the Mystery of the Voorwerp” goes live!

    Here we are again, representing Galaxy Zoo at Dragon*Con. This is an enormous gathering of science-fiction and fantasy fans, aficionados of science, gaming, costuming, offbeat music – all packed into downtown Atlanta’s five largest conference hotels, every Labor Day holiday weekend. It’s a huge Con – the number of people here at one time or [...]

  • Random

    Posted on July 3rd, 2010

    Written by BillKeel

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    From Voorwerp to webcomic – the quest continues

    From Voorwerp to webcomic – the quest continues

    This weekend, we’re trying to make as much progress as we can toward producing the webcomic “Hanny and the Quest of the Voorwerp”, a NASA-supported public-outreach effort. Pamela (AKA starstryder) and Bill are at CONvergence in Minneapolis, Minnesota, meeting with writers and artists. In Galaxy Zoo style, we’ve invited people who want to help write it to [...]

  • Observing

    Posted on June 29th, 2010

    Written by BillKeel

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    A Kitt Peak gallery

    A Kitt Peak gallery

    Here are some pictures from the recent Kitt Peak observing run, illustrating the experience beyond just our data collection (as interesting as that was, and continues to be). Collecting these was easier than usual since I had colleagues at the telescope, so I could run off and shoot pictures from the dome’s catwalk without worrying [...]

  • Observing

    Posted on June 18th, 2010

    Written by BillKeel

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    Wanted – interesting targets for Kitt Peak spectra!

    As noted on this forum post, we’re starting to run out of Voorwerpje candidates at the end of the night (because that’s the part of the sky that gets put of the SDSS imaging area). We’re asking for suggestions – so post your ideas and tell us why they’re interesting on the forum thread!
    (This [...]

  • Observing, Science

    Posted on June 15th, 2010

    Written by BillKeel

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    Hunting Voorwerpjes from Arizona

    Hunting Voorwerpjes from Arizona

    We have a team working at Kitt Peak again, this time using a spectrograph to chase down Voorwerpjes. As the Dutch diminutive indicates, these are like Hanny’s Voorwerp, only smaller. They are clouds of gas within galaxies (or out to their edges) which are ionized by a luminous active galactic nucleus. In most of these, [...]

  • Observing, Science

    Posted on May 4th, 2010

    Written by BillKeel

    Tags

    ,

    Dust in the Zoo – chapters opening, continuing, and closing

    Dust in the Zoo – chapters opening, continuing, and closing

    Anna Manning and I are back at Kitt Peak, using the 3.5m WIYN telescope for
    more observations of overlapping-galaxy systems from the Galaxy Zoo sample.
    This trip started with an unexpected dust encounter. Indulging my fascination with some of the technological excesses of the Cold War, I dragged Anna (and my mother-in-law as well) to Tucson’s [...]

  • Observing, Science

    Posted on April 12th, 2010

    Written by BillKeel

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    How to handle Hubble images

    How to handle Hubble images

    While we’re squirreling away processing the Hubble data on IC 2497 and Hanny’s Voorwerp, and starting to get some science out of them, here’s a guide to the kinds of things needed to get science from Hubble images and make them presentable. To demonstrate, I’ll use a galaxy that shows up in the opposite corner [...]

  • Observing, Science

    Posted on March 5th, 2010

    Written by BillKeel

    Tags

    Hubble observations – any week now!

    Speaking of the long-awaited Hubble observations of Hanny’s Voorwerp – where are they? We know certain windows when each can be done, and is supposed to be carried out. One such week-long window has already gone by without getting data, so things are narrowed down a bit.

  • Observing, Science

    Posted on March 4th, 2010

    Written by BillKeel

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    UV(oorwerp) from Space

    UV(oorwerp) from Space

    We have some new results to show off, Hanny’s Voorwerp observed using a space telescope. No, not that space telescope, that’s still coming up (shortly, we hope).
    Soon after the initial results showed what a fascinating object Hanny’s
    Voorwerp was proving to be, it was entered in the observing schedule for NASA’S GALEX satellite (GALaxy Evolution EXplorer). [...]

  • Site News

    Posted on October 6th, 2009

    Written by BillKeel

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    Galaxy Zoo and the Nobel Prize

    No, no one on the Zoo team has won the Nobel Prize. But there are interesting connection with the 2009 Physics prizes, just announced by the Swedish Academy. The prize was shared by Charles Kao, Willard Boyle, and Charles Smith. Kao’s work contributed greatly to making fiber optics feasible for reliable transmission of signals at [...]

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