By Janet Raloff
Within a few weeks, astronomers are expected to formally report the discovery of an intensely hot, green ring of gas. They’ll make a Dutch primary school teacher an honorary coauthor to credit her for first drawing their attention to this apparently starless dwarf galaxy. It’s unlike any celestial object known.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/8287.jpg?resize=300%2C214&ssl=1)
Neighboring a massive spiral galaxy known as IC 2497, the
newfound object radiates with an intensity and temperature higher than could be
accounted for by ordinary starlight, observes astronomer
William Keel of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
He reports that analyses of the object’s emissions, earlier this year, suggest that it is being “lit by the ultraviolet light and X-rays from a quasar that has vanished in the last 100,000 years.” The quasar’s telltale ghostly radiance, or light echo, indicates the blob is very warm — probably 16,000° to 20,000° Celsius.