To most undergraduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the word "research'' conjures up images of a stack of books, a long night in the library and many cups of coffee.

But for five astronomy students this semester, a research project became a portal to worlds far removed from a campus library.

And now, instead of thinking up a title for their final paper, they're trying to come up with a name — for the galaxy they found in a little known part of the universe.

If that doesn't seem improbable enough, consider that they made their observation using the world's largest radio telescope, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

None of this was expected when the students signed up for a research methods class being taught by UW-Madison astronomer Snezana Stanimirovic. But Stanimirovic, who formerly practiced astronomy at Cornell University, had spent three years working with the Arecibo Observatory. Because of her connections, she was able to secure observation time for her students.

"And we all enrolled thinking it was this general research class,'' said student Nick Ballering, of Madison. The other students included Lucas Hunt, Chippewa Falls; Ryan Birdsall, Duluth; Adam Beardsley, Oconomowoc; and Andrew Wilson, Tomahawk.

Time on Arecibo is prized even by long-time professional astronomers, Stanimirovic said. The telescope's dish is the largest in the world and covers 20 acres carved out of the Puerto Rican jungle. It may be familiar to anyone who got a glimpse of it in a James Bond movie or the movie "Contact." Rather than viewing objects in visible light, the telescope captures radio waves to provide information about distant objects in the universe, such as pulsars, nebulae and galaxies. The students would link to the telescope via a computer on the sixth floor of UW-Madison's Sterling Hall, home to the astronomy department.

With their scheduled observing time approaching, the student astronomers needed something to look for. They were aware of a recently published paper that had found evidence of numerous galaxies in a rather intimidating area of the universe called the Zone of Avoidance. Because the area 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. Observations into other parts of the universe are usually more fruitful, so the zone is generally avoided by astronomers. As a result little is known about what might reside there.

Unswayed, this is where the students decided to aim the telescope — a region that might as well be labeled with the phrase "Here be dragons."

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."

But the best was yet to come. Reviewing the data, Stanimirovic saw that within four minutes of their exploration of the Zone of Avoidance, the students had captured something fascinating. Graphs showed the familiar peaks and valleys that are the spectral signature of a spiral galaxy. They were able to gather enough data to know something about the galaxy's distance from Earth and the mass of hydrogen it contains, important because it tells scientists something about its star-making capacity.

Even Stanimirovic was impressed, though she jokes in front of her students that she has yet to assign grades. She cautioned that the observation still needs to be confirmed. Problems during a second viewing session last week prevented students from collecting the data necessary for confirmation.

But Stanimirovic said the data gathered by the students and the information about the distant galaxy is going to be important science for future astronomers probing the mysteries of the Zone of Avoidance. She's confident that future observations will show that, indeed, her students pulled off a rare accomplishment.

As for the students, all are now more motivated than ever to continue their studies in astronomy and physics. They now know what it's like when science leads you places where few others have gone.

"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.' "