Society for Science & the Public, which publishes Science News, uses cookies to personalize your experience and improve our services. For more information on how we use cookies on our websites, visit our Cookie Policy.
Mystery Solved Astronomy

Here’s what really happened to Hanny’s Voorwerp

Astronomers can finally explain a gas cloud’s strange glow

Hanny’s Voorwerp

GLOWING GAS  Hanny’s Voorwerp, the greenish smudge at the left of this image, is glowing thanks to photons from a feasting black hole in the galaxy at right.

NASA, ESA, W. Keel (Univ. Alabama), et al., Galaxy Zoo Team

By Lisa Grossman

This article is only available to Science News subscribers.

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address to access our archives.

Not a subscriber?

Science News is a nonprofit.

Support us by subscribing now.

More Stories from Science News on Astronomy

  1. Geminid meteor shower
    Space

    NASA’s Parker probe has spotted the Geminid meteor showers’ source

    By Maria Temming
  2. Parker Solar Probe illustration
    Space

    NASA’s Parker probe reveals the sun’s rogue plasma waves and magnetic islands

    By Christopher Crockett
  3. Moon
    Space

    How brightly the moon glows is a mystery, but maybe not for long

    By Maria Temming
  4. black hole
    Space

    A newfound black hole in the Milky Way is weirdly heavy

    By Christopher Crockett
  5. NGC 5477
    Astronomy

    19 more galaxies mysteriously missing dark matter have been found

    By Christopher Crockett
  6. Exploding star illustration
    Space

    How two gamma-ray bursts created record-breaking high-energy photons

    By Christopher Crockett
  7. solar spicules
    Space

    Realigning magnetic fields may drive the sun’s spiky plasma tendrils

    By Christopher Crockett
  8. Sunburst Arc galaxy
    Space

    Light leaking from a distant galaxy hints at a cosmic makeover’s origins

    By Christopher Crockett

From the Nature Index

Paid Content