Телескоп MeerKAT. Джерело: Південноафриканська радіоастрономічна обсерваторія
Scientists have found the world’s largest «Problem», but don’t be alarmed — it’s just the official name of a giant radio galaxy recently spotted by the MeerKAT telescope.
The size of the newly discovered galaxy is 32 times the size of our Milky Way, and its behavior is so strange that it is hard to imagine another name — to be more precise, it is nicknamed «Inkathazo» (which is actually «problem» or «trouble» in literal translation from South African languages).
«That’s because it was difficult to understand its physics», — explains one of the study’s lead authors, Jacinta Deleuze, who outlined the galaxy’s characteristics in an article on The Conversation.
The MeerKAT telescope, located in the Karoo region of South Africa, consists of 64 radio dishes and is operated by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory. It is the predecessor of Square Kilometer Array array, which, when launched in 2028, will be the world’s largest telescope and will help researchers study the early universe and dark energy.
MeerKAT has already played a key role in uncovering some of the hidden treasures of the southern sky since it became operational in 2018, and in addition to «Problem», it has found two giant radio galaxies — in a relatively small area of the sky near the equator, which astronomers call the «COSMOS field».
At the same time, Inkathazo, according to the researcher, was very different in that it did not show typical characteristics of giant radio galaxies — in particular, its plasma jets had an unusual shape and instead of spreading straight from end to end, one worked in «bent» state. In addition, the object lives in the very center of a cluster of galaxies, not in relative isolation, which would seem to make it difficult for its jets to grow to such a large size (but it did not). This raises the question of the role of environmental interactions in the formation and evolution of such giant galaxies.
The exceptional capabilities of MeerKAT helped solve this cosmic mystery. The researchers say they have produced the highest resolution spectral maps ever created for giant radio galaxies. These maps track the age of the plasma in different parts of the galaxy, providing clues to ongoing physical processes.
«The results revealed intriguing complexities in the Inkathazo plasma jets», — Deleuze writes. «Some electrons there get an unexpected boost in energy. We think this happens when jets collide with hot gas in the voids between galaxies in a cluster. And this gives us hints about what kind of plasma physics might be going on in these extreme parts of the Universe that we hadn’t previously predicted».
As a result, Deleuze notes that the fact of finding three radio galaxies in one area (which is a rather rare phenomenon) — indicates that there is probably a «huge treasure trove in the southern sky» The search for such cosmic giants will be intensified in the coming years. It’s also worth mentioning here that science knows millions of normal-sized radio galaxies, but only 800 giant ones were found by 2020. With the launch of radio telescopes like MeerKAT, the number of discoveries has increased to 11,000 over the past 5 years.