Astronomers have captured the first-ever high-definition photograph of a strange circle in space as they investigate the origins of these enigmatic objects.
Pictures from the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder radio telescope (ASKAP) in 2019 revealed mysterious formations known as ORCs (or “strange radio circles”). ASKAP, a network of radio telescopes in Western Australia, started detecting circles all across the night sky as it imaged the whole constellations.
It’s possible that each circle is a couple of million light-years in diameter, yet it looks to be many billion light-years distant. Despite the appearance of galaxies in the core of each ORCs, these galaxies only appear in radio waves. More information is now on its way. ORC 1 was seen for the first time by the MeerKAT radio telescope array of the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (“Odd Radio Circle 1.”) On Tuesday, the company released a statement with the picture (March 22.)
While the study is still underway, astronomers believe that such images will help them determine how all these radio configurations are generated and better match ORC development with the rest of the universe.
Observations using optical, X-ray, or infrared telescopes have failed to turn up any evidence of ORCs, rendering their existence all the more puzzling.
There are currently three ideas on the formation of ORCs. As two enormous black holes merge, they might constitute an enormous explosion in the center of their host galaxy. ORCs might also be jets of intense particles emitted from the galaxy’s core, or a termination shock generated during the formation of stars during a starburst. The researchers stated in a release that further radio surveys are needed, but they expressed excitement at seeing something new in the sky.
“We know ORCs 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,” explained lead author Ray Norris.
