Largest Galaxy Ever Discovered

Every new discovery made about space reminds us again that our place in the universe is no more than a small grain of dust. A galaxy newly discovered by researchers is actually one of these discoveries that show how unimportant our place in the infinite universe is.

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

Examined data from 20,000 radio antennas

One of the mysteries in the universe with quite mysterious things, giant radio galaxies, a galactic core containing a supermassive black hole It consists of a host galaxy with an orbiting star cluster, as well as huge jets and lobes emanating from the galactic centre. Interacting with the intergalactic medium, these jets and lobes act as a synchrotron to accelerate the electrons that produce radio emission.

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 reach gigantic proportions in some galaxies on megaparsec (the unit used to measure distance in astronomy) scales. The extreme examples of these galaxies, called giant radio galaxies, could be the key to understanding what’s causing their growth.

The research team led by astronomer Martijn Oei of Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands mentioned above in data collected by the LOW Frequency Array in Europe (LOFAR), an interferometric network of approximately 20,000 radio antennas located at 52 locations across Europe. began to look for the extreme values ​​that we are.

The resulting images represent the most sensitive scan ever made

Re-examining data by eliminating compact radio sources that could obscure detection of scattered radio lobes and correcting optical distortion Researchers have obtained images that represent the most sensitive search ever for radio galaxy lobes. Then using the best pattern recognition tool available, their own eyes, to locate their targets, the team eventually found Alcyoneus emanating from a galaxy a few billion light-years away.

In their article on the subject, the researchers state that “If host galaxy features, which are an important cause of giant radio galaxy growth, are present, then the hosts of the largest giant radio galaxies are likely to have them”; Similarly, he notes that if there are certain large-scale environments highly conducive to giant radio galaxy growth, the largest giant radio waves are likely to be found in those environments.

Alcyoneus continues to grow

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

Alcyoneus is suspiciously ordinary, researchers stated; 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. “Therefore, very large galaxies or central black holes are not required to grow large giants, and high radio power is not necessary if the observed state is representative of the source’s lifetime.” expressions were used.

On the other hand, the reason behind this degree of growth of Alcyoneus may be that it is located in a region of space with a lower density than average or that it interacts with the cosmic web. Whatever the reason, researchers believe that Alcyoneus continues to grow in the cosmic darkness.