Clue to Odd Radio Circles
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Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Video imagery:
- ORC-1, radio observations from MeerKAT telescope in green atop an optical and infrared map from the international DES (Dark Energy Survey): J. English (U. Manitoba)/EMU/MeerKAT/DES (CTIO)
- Multiwavelength image of the Cloverleaf ORC. Visible light from the DESI (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument) Legacy Survey, X-rays from XMM-Newton, and radio from ASKAP (the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder): X. Zhang and M. Kluge (MPE), B. Koribalski (CSIRO).
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We fly through a grid of tiles with images of colorful spatial phenomena.
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Logo, News from the Universe.
Text, May 10, 2024. Clue to Odd Radio Circles. We examine a partly transparent circular blob colored with a green tint against a deep-field image of galaxies. Text, ORC-1, Meerkat Telescope. In 2021, astronomers discovered huge, radio wave-emitting features large enough to envelop multiple galaxies. They are called odd radio circles, O.R.Cs, and astronomers don't know what is causing them. Now, astronomers have used the XMM-Newton telescope to see X-rays coming from an O.R.C. for the first time. A different image flashes in which resembles a nebula with colored blue on the upper left mixing with another colored pink on the bottom right, against a background filled with distant galaxies and circular pink blotches.
Text, In this image of the Cloverleaf O.R.C., X-rays are shown in blue, and radio emission is shown in pink. Using X-rays to trace the temperature and distribution of gas, astronomers found there are two group of galaxies merging within the Cloverleaf O.R.C.
While galaxy group mergers are common, O.R.Cs are very rare. Only eight have been discovered so far. While astronomers have an important new clue, there are still many questions about the physics responsible for the creation of these intense radio signals. More, and longer, observations of O.R.Cs will be essential.
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