Astronomers have discovered the largest galaxy ever | Science and health

the gate Science alert He explains that giant radio galaxies consist of a host galaxy, namely star clusters orbits the nucleus of a galaxy containing a Giant black holeas well as massive jets and lobes radiating out from the galactic center – these jets and lobes, interacting with the intergalactic medium, act as a syncronton (electromagnetic radiation) accelerating electrons that produce radio emission.

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The discovery of this new spatial element, the report highlights, could help provide a path to better understanding Giant radio galaxies – Since it is not known why some of them grow to such huge sizes, on megafraccis scales – as well as the galactic medium that floats in the voids of space.

“If there are features of host galaxies that are an important cause of the growth of giant radio galaxies, it is likely that the larger host possesses them,” the researchers, led by astronomer Martin Owe, of the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, write. In an article published in the scientific journal Astronomy and astrophysics🇧🇷 “Similarly, if there are special large-scale environments that are hugely conducive to the growth of giant radio galaxies, then it is likely that larger galaxies will be found there.”

To find Alcyoneus, the pros looked for outliers in data collected by the Low Frequency ARray Telescope (Lofar) in Europe. They reprocessed the data through a new pipeline, removing embedded radio sources that could interfere with the radio’s diffuse lobe detections and optical distortion correction.

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The resulting images represent, according to those involved in the work, the most sensitive survey of the galaxy’s radio lobes ever taken. Then, they used their eyes to locate the target.

After measuring the lobes, the researchers sought to understand the host galaxy. At this point, they found it to be a fairly ordinary elliptical galaxy, embedded in filaments of the cosmic web, about 240 billion times the mass of the Sun, with a supermassive black hole at its center about 400 million times the mass of the Sun.

“Geometry aside, Alcyoneus and its host are suspiciously common: the total intensity of low-frequency luminosity, stellar mass and supermassive black hole mass are all lower than those of giant radio galaxies, despite their similarities,” they highlighted the researchers. “Thus, very massive galaxies or central black holes are not necessary for the growth of large giants, and if the observed condition represents the source throughout its life, then there is also no high radio energy.”