Hubble Finds Unidentified Object in Space, Scientists Puzzled

Teki187

Teki187

Teki187

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This is exactly why we send astronauts to risk their life to service Hubble: in a paper published last week in the Astrophysical Journal, scientists detail the discovery of a new unidentified object in the middle of nowhere. I don't know about you, but when a research paper conclusion says "We suggest that the transient may be one of a new class" I get a chill of oooh-aaahness down my spine. Especially when after a hundred days of observation, it disappeared from the sky with no explanation. Get your tinfoil hats out, because it gets even weirder. The object also appeared out of nowhere. It just wasn't there before. In fact, they don't even know where it is exactly located because it didn't behave like anything they know. Apparently, it can't be closer than 130 light-years but it can be as far as 11 billion light-years away. It's not in any known galaxy either. And they have ruled out a supernova too. It's something that they have never encountered before. In other words: they don't have a single clue about where or what the heck this thing is.
The shape of the light curve is inconsistent with microlensing. In addition to being inconsistent with all known supernova types, is not matched to any spectrum in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey database.
​
The only thing the astronomers—working on the Supernova Cosmology Project—can tell is that it appeared all of the sudden in the direction of a cluster with the catchy name of CL 1432.5+3332.8, about 8.2 billion light-years away. Hubble caught a spark that continued to brighten during a 100-day period, peaking at the 21st magnitude, only to fade away in the same period of time.

Source - http://gizmodo.com/5049896/hubble-finds-unidentified-object-in-space
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/28244844.html?pageSize=0
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0809/0809.1648v1.pdf

Spooky!
 
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definately a lizard.

The only problem is that whatever they saw happened between 130 years and 11 billions years ago -.-
 
Magic_x_uk said:
It's either some dust on the lens or Elvis. Christ it's only a dot. Chill, not as though it is a space ship is it.
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I'm pretty sure that the scientists at NASA probably thought of the same thing, being, you know, NASA scientists. And I'm sure they would have ruled it out before making an announcement that they had discovered something new.

And what looks like a dot to you is probably far more significant to the sort of people who operate Hubble. Christ, people are so negative here. It's as though you don't want them to be searching the universe for new phenomena
 
Conscript said:
I'm pretty sure that the scientists at NASA probably thought of the same thing, being, you know, NASA scientists. And I'm sure they would have ruled it out before making an announcement that they had discovered something new.

And what looks like a dot to you is probably far more significant to the sort of people who operate Hubble. Christ, people are so negative here. It's as though you don't want them to be searching the universe for new phenomena
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Its just that a large portion of the posters here read "new phenomena" as "big alien ship full of little green men" and then proceed to post things like "fail" and so on and ridicule the OP for daring to be interested in such things.

Armchair scientists can say "speck of dust on the lens" with impunity to explain all manner of unknown phenomena as they are of course so much more intelligent and savvy then the people who built and launched the thing into space! ( hmmm i smell some sarcasm... :p / and yeah i know the poster who said dust was being sarcastic as well ).

Well at least it gives the boys and gals in white coats something else to study now at last :p
 
I just hope 'Independence day' really happens. That would put the sceptics into perspective. Imagine waking up one morning and looking upwards and seeing space ships. Now that would really answer the question...."Is there anyone out there"
 
AtreuS said:
Its just that a large portion of the posters here read "new phenomena" as "big alien ship full of little green men" and then proceed to post things like "fail" and so on and ridicule the OP for daring to be interested in such things.
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I suggest you go check said OP's created threads history. It will reveal the true intended nature of this thread :(
 
Spektor said:
I suggest you go check said OP's created threads history. It will reveal the true intended nature of this thread :(
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Do you feel manipulated and tricked in some way?......maybe you need the tinfoil hat as your clearly convinced there is a hidden agenda here?

Who gives a **** what his history is, he is interested in the subject and has presented this post in an impartial manner.

This information is public domain and open to anyone who is interested to discuss it, regardless of what conclusions they draw.
 
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