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NereidT
23-03-2012, 06:18 AM
No doubt many people who hang out here know of the Galaxy Zoo (http://www.galaxyzoo.org/) citizen science project. Probably many have also signed up, and spent a pleasant hour or two classifying galaxies.

But did you know that there's a forum associated with Galaxy Zoo (http://www.galaxyzooforum.org/index.php)? It was on this forum that the object which became known as Hanny's Voorwerp was first announced. This APOD (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110210.html), from over a year ago, covers some recent observations of it.

So, I was idly browsing the forum the other day, and came across a thread entitled An enigma wrapped in a riddle (surrounded by emptiness?) (http://www.galaxyzooforum.org/index.php?topic=279989.0). It's about a galaxy with a strange shape; here's the SDSS thumbnail image:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/zoo2_extra/277431.jpg

It seems no one over at the GZ forum really knows why it has such an odd shape (though several zooites - as they call themselves - have posted some suggestions). And I wondered if anyone here has seen it before, and whether anyone has any idea what it might be?