Largest Galaxy Ever Discovered

Every new exploration of outer space is a tiny dust particle of our place in the universe. indistinguishable It reminds us that it is. by researchers a newly discovered galaxy In fact, it is one of these discoveries that show how unimportant our place in the infinite universe is.

A radio galaxy located about 3 billion light-years away and spanning 5 megaparsecs of space. alcyoneus galaxy, with a length of 16.3 million light years, has been discovered so far. the biggest reported to be a galactic structure. The discovery that once again shows us how weak and inadequate our knowledge and understanding of these gigantic structures is; It is a tool for us to better understand not only the giant radio galaxies, but also other intergalactic mediums drifting in the expanding voids of space. guiding It was also among the news that it could happen.

Data from 20,000 radio antennas analyzed

Giant radio galaxies, one of the mysteries in the universe with some pretty mysterious stuff, are giant radio galaxies emanating from a host galaxy, which is a star cluster orbiting a galactic core containing a supermassive black hole, as well as from the galactic center. from lobes with jets occurs. These jets and lobes interacting with the intergalactic medium, radio emission It functions as a synchrotron to speed up the electrons that produce it.

Jets created by active massive black holes at the center of a galaxy can travel enormous distances before spreading out into massive radio-emitting lobes. This process is quite normal; even the Milky Way Galaxy, in which our planet is located, has radio lobes. But what we don’t fully understand for now is why they are scaled to megaparsec (the unit used to measure distance in astronomy) in some galaxies. to gigantic proportions they reach. The extreme examples of these galaxies, called giant radio galaxies, are what caused It may be the key to understanding.

Led by astronomer Martijn Oei of the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, the research team used data collected by the LOW Frequency Array (LOFAR) in Europe, an interferometric network of approximately 20,000 radio antennas located at 52 locations across Europe. extreme values started searching.

The resulting images represent the most precise scan ever made

By re-examining the data by eliminating compact radio sources that could obscure detection of scattered radio lobes and correcting optical distortion, the researchers concluded that what has been done so far for radio galaxy lobes the most precise search They obtained representative images. Next, using the best pattern recognition tool available, their own eyes, to locate their targets, the team eventually smashed into a galaxy emanating from a galaxy a few billion light-years away. Alcyoneus found it.

In their article on the subject “If host galaxy features that are a major cause of giant radio galaxy growth are present, then the hosts of the largest giant radio galaxies are likely to have them” researchers using statements; Similarly, if there are certain large-scale environments highly conducive to giant radio galaxy growth, the biggest radio waves states that it is likely to be found in these environments.

Alcyoneus continues to grow

Researchers studying the galaxy have found that Alcyoneus is about the Sun. 240 billion times about the mass of the Sun at its center 400 million times They discovered that it is a fairly normal elliptical galaxy with a supermassive black hole.

Researchers stating that Alcyoneus is so ordinary that it raises suspicion; They added that although the overall low-frequency luminosity intensity, stellar mass, and supermassive black hole mass are similar to those of mid-giant radio galaxies, Alcyoneus’ values ​​are lower. In the statements made in the article on the subject, “Therefore, galaxies or central black holes too large to magnify large giants It is not necessary and if the observed state is representative of the lifetime of the source, high radio power is also It is not necessary“ expressions were used.

On the other hand, the reason behind the growth of Alcyoneus is that the space is above average. to lower density It can also be located in a region with a cosmic web or interact with the cosmic web. Whatever the reason, researchers do believe that Alcyoneus is lurking in the cosmic darkness. to grow continues.