Two Giant Radio Galaxies 62 Times Larger Than the Milky Way Discovered by MeerKat Telescope

Nikki A. , Tech Times 22 January 2021, 01:01 am

Two new giant radio galaxies have been discovered by the MeerKAT International GHz Tiered Extragalactic Exploration (MIGHTEE). As Science The Wire reports, the findings were acquired from the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory in Cape Town, South Africa. The cutting-egde telescope has captured radio galaxies which is too faint to be seen by other telescopes. Furthermore, the findings suggest that there's a huge chance giant radio galaxies are more common than we thought.

MeerKat Radio Telescope Discovers Two New Radio Galaxies, Gives New Understanding of the Universe

(Photo : Photo by Max McKinnon on Unsplash)

Findings of the Giant Radio Galaxies Study

The study has been published in the Oxford Academic journals of the Royal Astronomical Society. In an interview via eNCA, Dr. Jacinta Delhaize, a fellow researcher at the University of Cape Town shares her insights about their latest discovery. Dr. Delhaize says these two new giant radio galaxies are a very rare discovery. They belong to among the largest objects in their universe. Their size is massive, which measures about 62 times larger than the diameter of the milky way galaxy. This makes them larger than about 93% of other giant objects that have already been discovered.

MeerKAT Radio Telescope Makes Study of Giant Radio Galaxies More Advanced

The study suggests that these galaxies have been visible in the past with the Large Array observation. However, only the cores have been seen. Thanks to the excellent sensitivity and impressive UV coverage of the cutting edge MeerKAT telescope, these new galaxies have been studied at a deeper level. The MeerKAT telescope has permitted the diffuse emission to be detected, allowing a clearer view of these galaxies.

According to StarDate, Radio Galaxies are a specific type of active galaxy that emits more light at radio wavelengths as compared to visible wavelengths. Some experts call them radio-luminous galaxies. These galaxies are powered by non-thermal emission.

Furthermore, Delhaize says that these new discoveries pave an exciting path for astronomers. Because of these, they can now detect galaxies that are very huge in size yet faint when looked at. The MeerKAT radio telescope becomes the first-ever device that can detect objects that are very huge in size yet difficult to be sensed visually.

In conclusion, Delhaize notes that there might probably be more giant radio galaxies out there. "This leads us to the idea that these giant radio galaxies are probably far more common than we previously thought and this is giving us clues about how galaxies evolve over time", she said.

This study has given experts a new view of the universe. With each new discovery, a new perspective of the university is known. There might be more things around us than we think since a lot of them, although massive, may be invisible to the eye. If you want to know more about the discovery, check out the interview with Dr. Delhaize below.

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