March 29, 2024

Astronomers Discover Mysterious Circular Ring – Likely of Intergalactic Origin

When a star takes off in a supernova, it in some cases leaves a remnant that has a ring shape, such as seen here in this illustration of SN 1987A. Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart

” When we initially discovered this almost completely circular radio things we believed it was yet another ORC (Odd Radio Circle) however after our extra observations, it became clear that this things is much more likely to be something else,” said Professor Filipovic.
The ring that was discovered has considerable differences to the 5 other known ORCs– a flatter radio spectral index, lack of a prominent central galaxy as a possible host, and bigger obvious size– that all suggest it might be a various kind of things.
” The most possible explanation is that the item is an intergalactic Supernova Remnant due to a blew up star that resided in the Large Magellanic Cloud outskirts that had actually gone through a single-degenerate type Ia supernova which includes the explosion of two stars orbiting each other,” stated Professor Filipovic.
” However, we considered other scenarios such as that this object may represent a remnant of the super-flare activity from a neighboring Milky Way star (at only 190 light years away from Sun) that took place just a couple of centuries earlier, or the property that it might in reality be a much larger ORC.
” What weve possibly then discovered is an unique remnant of supernova that has actually expanded into a rarefied, intergalactic environment– an environment that we didnt expect to discover in such an item. Our quotes point to the age of about 2200 to 7100 years old.”

J0624– 6948 was first detected with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) handled by CSIRO– one of a number of brand-new generation radio telescopes that are exposing new functions of deep space.
” These new radio telescopes can pick up a variety of spherical objects, and due to the combined effects of high-sensitivity, good spatial tasting, and broad location coverage, they are enhancing our understanding of the Universe.”
Referral: “Mysterious odd radio circle near the big magellanic cloud– an intergalactic supernova residue?” Miroslav D Filipović, J L Payne, R Z E Alsaberi, R P Norris, P J Macgregor, L Rudnick, B S Koribalski, D Leahy, L Ducci, R Kothes, H Andernach, L Barnes, I S Bojičić, L M Bozzetto, R Brose, J D Collier, E J Crawford, R M Crocker, S Dai, T J Galvin, F Haberl, U Heber, T Hill, A M Hopkins, N Hurley-Walker, A Ingallinera, T Jarrett, P J Kavanagh, E Lenc, K J Luken, D Mackey, P Manojlović, P Maggi, C Maitra, C M Pennock, S Points, S Riggi, G Rowell, S Safi-Harb, H Sano, M Sasaki, S Shabala, J Stevens, J Th van Loon, N F H Tothill, G Umana, D Urošević, V Velović, T Vernstrom, J L West, Z Wan, 4 February 2022, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.DOI: 10.1093/ mnras/stac210.

When a star explodes in a supernova, it in some cases leaves a residue that has a ring shape, such as seen here in this illustration of SN 1987A. Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart
Western Sydney University scientists, together with an international team of specialists, have actually found a strange circular ring near our neighboring galaxy that could be the first known case of an intergalactic Supernova Remnant– remains of a blew up star that could be approximately 7,000 years of ages.
Called a rogue Supernova Remnant by the scientists and named J0624– 6948, it is most likely situated in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)– a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way– and its position recommends a formerly unnoticed origin.
Released in the distinguished journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, lead author Professor Miroslav Filipovic from the Universitys School of Science said the discovery was amazing and raised lots of unanswered questions.