What scientists know about ORCs - mysterious and little-studied cosmic phenomena visible only in the radio range
The universe is full of surprises and mysteries that have yet to be discovered. Another confirmation of this is the so-called ORCs (Odd Radio Circles) - strange radio circles that were first discovered only in 2019 by the ASKAP radio telescope (Australia), and what is remarkable in no other spectrum are these formations simply invisible.
That's about this discovery and how scientists are trying to explain it, and will be discussed in the current material.
What is "ORK"
New, more detailed images of these unusual cosmic phenomena were obtained using the MeerKaT radio telescope (South Africa). And that's what scientists have managed to establish so far.
The sizes of the discovered radio rings are really striking in their size. After all, they are at least one million light-years across, and this, for a minute, is almost 16 times larger than our Milky Way galaxy.
At the same time, the outlines of ORCs are quite difficult to distinguish and, in essence, are more reminiscent of translucent soap bubbles or a translucent jellyfish. And to date, only five such objects have been discovered in the observable universe.
Scientists do not yet have any plausible generally accepted theory of the origin of these objects. But there is speculation that these ORCs were generated by supermassive black holes. Since in the center of each "ORC" a galaxy was discovered, in the center of which there was just such a supermassive object.
At the same time, scientists cannot yet even guess whether ORCs are a common occurrence for supermassive black holes or whether this is a consequence of a unique event in the past.
But it was not the size and rarity of the phenomenon that struck scientists the most, but the fact that the latest sharper images revealed curved filaments of radio emission inside these structures.
Scientists cannot explain the nature of their appearance. There is only an assumption that as a result of the expansion of ORCs from the “parent galaxy”, other galaxies were absorbed, in which the radio emission wave collided with the gas that gave rise to these “threads”.
Also, scientists were amazed at the size of these objects. After all, as calculations have shown, ORCs reach a million light years. This is all that is known to scientists at the moment about such rare cosmic phenomena as ORCs and in order to better to understand their nature and solve their riddle, it will be necessary to create more powerful and sensitive radio telescopes on Earth.
So we just have to wait. In the meantime, if you liked the material, then rate it and do not forget to subscribe to the channel. I also invite you to visit our Telegram channel. Thank you for your attention!