 Some strange cloud was found in a galaxy using a 75-year-old refurbished telescope. This is your space pod for Tuesday, May 22, 2018. In the Whirlpool Galaxy, about 31 million light-years away from Earth, a massive cloud of ionized hydrogen gas was found, and it was found by using a refurbished 75-year-old telescope of all things. This was the first time that this gas cloud was seen, and yet the Whirlpool Galaxy has been studied by astronomers since the 1800s. This cloud of ionized hydrogen gas was likely ejected out from a nearby galaxy and then ionized by radiation from the black hole in the center of the Whirlpool Galaxy. Clouds like these are known throughout the universe in distant galaxies, but this is the first time one so close has been discovered. Astronomers are excited about this news because it'll be a great way to study how the interaction between the gas clouds and black holes in galaxies are, and how gas clouds may get ejected out of galaxies. Astronomers at the Case Western Reserve University made the discovery by using the Bernal Schmidt Telescope. This telescope has been around since 1941 and was recently moved from Ohio to Arizona at the Kitt Peak Observatory. The scope was able to measure diffuse patches of light, but keeping out stray light during observations. And these specific diffuse patches are the low-service light emitted by gas or stars around a galaxy. Astronomers made this observation by applying a special filter to see hot ionized gas because hot ionized gas gives off a specific wavelength of light. And this filter is a hydrogen filter, which was specified for observing that exact wavelength, hence being able to detect it. But now what's really interesting is how astronomers figured out that this gas cloud was from specifically the whirlpool galaxy rather than just being a cloud of gas in front of our galaxy. They did this by measuring the speed in which this cloud was moving. Teaming up with the wind observatory with their 3.5 meter telescope, they were able to take a detailed spectrum of the cloud and were able to measure how fast the cloud was moving away from us. This is what determined that it had to have been from the whirlpool galaxy rather than the Milky Way because they move at different speeds. Now the whirlpool galaxy is one of the most studied galaxies out there, and understanding more about how it ejects its gas and stars will lead to a better comprehension of galaxy evolution. And galaxy evolution is important in understanding interactions and the development stages in our universe and galaxies found in it. Be sure to check out last week's episode of TomorrowOrbit 11.20, and be sure to like and subscribe. Keep learning everyone!