9Spitch

9Spitch
Observation data
Constellation Cetus
Right ascension 02h 09m 41.27s[1]
Declination +00° 15′ 58.48″[1]
Redshift 0.202±0.00006[1]
Helio radial velocity 249.1 ± 17.7 km/s (154.8 ± 11.0 mi/s)[1]
Distance 2 and 10 Gly (610 and 3,070 Mpc)[2]
Other designations
ASW0009io9, SDSS J020941.27+001558.4, 2MASX 02094125+0015587

9Spitch, officially designated ASW0009io9,[3] is a gravitationally lensed system of two galaxies.[2] The nearer galaxy is approximately 2 billion light-years (610 Mpc) from Earth, while the lensed galaxy is 10 billion light-years (3.1 Gpc) distant.[2] It was discovered in January 2014 by Zbigniew "Zbish" Chetnik, an amateur astronomer from Northamptonshire, England,[2] while classifying images on the website Spacewarps.org.[3] The discovery was announced on the BBC television programme Stargazing Live.[2][3]

The term Spitch comes from Chetnik's nickname Zbish, after a BBC producer misheard his nickname. Stargazing Live host Brian Cox supported the name 9Spitch over other suggestions as it would "highlight amateur astronomy".[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "SDSS J020941.27+001558.4". Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Zolfagharifard, Ellie (16 January 2014). "Amateur astronomer discovers a new galaxy 10 billion light years away while taking part in BBC's Stargazing Live show". Daily Mail. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Daily Fail". Zooniverse.org. 17 January 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2015.

External links