Mysterious images from space:
Astronomer Jordan Collier has captured what is called an “odd radio circle”.
This is sixteen times larger than the Milky Way.
In 2019, the international research team discovered such a circle in space for the first time.
“People often want to explain their observations and show that they agree with the best of our knowledge. For me, it’s much more exciting to discover something new that defies our current understanding.’ Jordan Collier, Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy
Since then, only five odd radio circles have been found in space.
Normally, astronomers observe space with infrared or X-ray telescopes. But the researchers would not recognize the so-called odd radio circles (ORCs).
Researcher Jordan Colliert created the image using a MeerKAT radio telescope, which visualizes the phenomenon.
It is the largest and most sensitive radio telescope in the southern hemisphere: 64 individual antennas, each with a diameter of 13.5 meters, examine radiation bursts in space with great precision.
The researchers still have no explanation for the origin of the radio circles.
But there are assumptions:
The spherical rings could be the result of a large explosion at the center of a galaxy.
However, the rings could also have been created as a shock wave during the formation of stars.
“We know odd radio circles are rings of faint radio emissions surrounding a galaxy with a highly active black hole at its center, but we don’t yet know what causes them or why they are so rare.” Ray Norris, Western Sydney University
So it remains exciting to see when such a radio circle can be captured next time – and what exactly is involved in the emergence.