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Sci-Fi Wednesday: Hubble Finds Unidentified Object
Just published in Astrophysical Journal, there is a report that astronomers using the Hubble Telescope for the Supernova Cosmology Project have discovered something they cannot explain.
Sky and Telescope reports:
The mystery object did not behave like any known kind of supernova. It is not even in any detectable galaxy. “The shape of the light curve is inconsistent with microlensing,” say the researchers. They recorded three spectra of it—and its spectrum, they write, “in addition to being inconsistent with all known supernova types, is not matched to any spectrum in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey database” of vast numbers of objects. “We suggest that the transient may be one of a new class.”
Certainly interesting to consider... an entirely new class of phenomenon, although the possibility doesn’t stop Gizmodo from joking:
Apparently, a scientist at the LHC declared that the object is similar to the flash that an Imperial Star Destroyer does when reaching Warp 10. Either that or some dust on the Hubble lenses, so someone tell NASA to get some Windex up there too.
For more:
From Gizmodo: Hubble: Hubble Finds Unidentified Object in Space, Scientists Puzzled
From Sky and Telescope: Hubble Finds a Mystery Object
Or you can read the paper: Discovery of an Unusual Optical Transient With the Hubble Space Telescope (PDF).
— michael | September 17, 2008 09:23 AM | Random bits
