Five undergraduates astronomy students at University of Wisconsin-Madison discovered a new Galaxy in whats called the “zone of avoidance.”
Zone of avoidance is on the same plane as our own galaxy, its view is obscured by the clouds of dust that swirl about our own address in the universe. For this reason, professional astronomers and scientists around the world ignored that space, and they thought that looking somewhere else might be more fruitful and useful.
But the Five students decided on the day of their observation to look into the zone of the avoidance, and after only five minutes of their exploration of the Zone of Avoidance, the students collected and captured data of a familiar peaks and valleys that are the spectral signature of a spiral galaxy. Recently also, astronomers received images of newly discovered multi-planet solar system
The students used the world’s largest radio telescope, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico for their research with the help of their instructor the astronomer Snezana Stanimirovic.
Here are the name of the five students who were part of the extraordinary research project. (Lucas Hunt, Chippewa Falls; Ryan Birdsall, Duluth; Adam Beardsley, Oconomowoc; and Andrew Wilson, Tomahawk.)
Though they were thousands of miles away from the great dish, the moment when they actually took control of the telescope was memorable.
“There we were talking with the technicians at Arecibo,” recalled Birdsall, “and I felt like saying, ‘Yep, we’re running your telescope now.”
Beardsley was shocked at how easy it seemed. “Basically, you put in the frequencies and you hit the ‘run’ button. The telescope takes care of the rest. It would probably be easier to be in awe if it were harder.”
These results motivated the students to continue studying astronomy and physics. Now they realize the power of science and what might lead us in the future.
“You go home at the end of the day,” Birdsall said, “and when somebody asks you what you did that day, you can say, ‘Oh, I discovered a galaxy.”
Source – UPI – twincities
