Astronomers discover 15 new giant radio galaxies — the largest single objects in the universe

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Astronomers have discovered an amazing astronomer from 15 giant new radio galaxies inside the “sculptor” of the Australian Safif Telescope in Australia (ASKAP). This is a big deal because Giant radio galaxies They are the largest individual creatures in the well -known universe, each of which is greater than 2.3 million light -years old.

The size of these new examples ranges from 3.7 million light years to 12.4 million light years. For context, and milky way About 105,700 wide light years. This means that our galaxy will suit the largest of these new giant radio galaxies, designated askap J0107-2347, more than 117 times.

ASKAP J0107-2347, which is about 1.5 billion light years, is also great because it features two sets of radio lobes, one within the other. The interior lobes are bright and short, while the outer lobes are dull and extensive. This structure -like structure can be hinted to how to increase the size of giant radio galaxies.

“Giant radio galaxies are the largest individual creatures in the universe. They are similar in size with all Local groupWhich includes the Milky Way, AndromedaAnd a lot of GalaxThe team leader and university researcher Sydney Bayerbli Silvia Corenbalski told Space.com.

Giant radio galaxies and black holes

Corpalaski explained that it is usually a huge giant radio galaxy Oval galaxy That has The superior black hole In her heart. When these black holes feed on the surrounding material, the creation of an area is called The nucleus of the active galaxy (AGN), they explode strong jokers of the material at speeds close to light.

All large galaxies are believed to have super black holes in their centers, and many of these galaxies are nourished or “accumulated” and thus sitting in AgNS during the display of jet activity. What distinguishes giant radio galaxies from each other is the fact that its aircraft extends from 2.3 million to 15.3 million light years, creating a vast radio wave cloves that revolve around these galaxies in the shock of these planes.

“Sometimes this Super black holes feed“At other times, the super active black hole, so we do not see any planes and lobes that were slowly around the head of the plane,” said Coripalsky.

The researcher added that, unless aircraft and lobes are re -activated. Mercy between galaxies It is believed that he plays a role in restarting the activity of the super black hole, thus recharged Tese and creating a brighter set of internal lobes.

To investigate this phenomenon as well as faded radio lobes, Corpalaski explained that three things are necessary: ​​high allergy, good angle accuracy, and relatively low control frequency. AskThe 6 -km radio overlap, which consists of 36 telescopes in Western Australia, provides highly accurate radio images, and therefore it fits the bill well.

“Since ASKAP is equipped with new receptions with wide fields, and the filter feed on the trading board that looks like a chess board, we can make huge surveys in the sky,” said Coripalsky. “In every note, we see an area of ​​30 degrees square, while the previous radio interference standards will see about one square degree. So, every image produced by ASKAP is a treasure!”

The ASKAP data used by Koribalski was focused on this research on Galaxy Starburst NGC 253Or “Galaxy”, which is located about 8 million light years away, creating the deepest Askap field so far, the sculptor field.

“While examining this deep field in ASKAP, I found an extraordinary number of giant radio galaxies, not only very significantly, but also large in terms of its corner sizes,” said Corpalaski. “The latter, along with the depth of the field, makes it possible to study these giant radio galaxies in great detail, especially their morphology, identity and ages.”

“Return to the issue of how giant radio galaxies grow very large? It seems that there is nothing that hinders the expansion of the lobe, and they will continue to grow, expand and fade,” said Corlaski. “Therefore, in many cases, we discover ancient external radio lobes as well as a new group of small internal radio lobes in addition to the aircraft, which were created when restarting the activity of the super black hole. This allows us to study the time range on which AGN is switched and turned off.”

As for the reason for these cut periods, Corpalaski added that the radio cloves are created in the galaxy groups. This means that the so -called “cluster weather”, and the dynamic interactions that occur between galaxies in groups, can play a major role in forming radio galaxies, stopping their expansion or creating structures such as a wide angle radio tails, jellyfish tails, or tails of integrated fish as shown in the CORKSCREW galaxy.

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Askap data can help reach the bottom of the giant radio galaxy growth, because while the old lobes of these huge galaxies are very large, widespread, and so dimmed that they are generally not discovered in shallow surveys, ASSAP surveys are deep enough to see these faded structures.

Askap J0107 -23347 is a major example of this form of GalaxyAnd it can be joined soon by many dual -giant radio galaxies, which helps to break the mystery of these vast cosmic structures.

“Askap will increase the number of giant radio galaxies near and far,” said Coripalsky. “Delivery of Sky’s Sky polls a lot of data so that rare objects can now be discovered in larger numbers.”

Preprint version of the team’s research is published on the paper warehouse site Arxiv.