The largest galaxy ever discovered!

In early 2022, astronomers found a galaxy It is about 3 billion light-years away from Earth. Alcyoneus It is a radio galaxy up to 5 megaparsecs (1 parsec corresponds to 3,260,000 light-years) in space.

It is also 16.3 million light-years across, making it the largest known structure of galactic origin.

Among the many mysteries that permeate the world and Universegiant radio galaxies is another one in the middle of it all.

It consists of galaxy host (which is the group of stars orbiting a galactic core that contains a supermassive black hole), as well as massive jets and lobes shooting out from the center of the galaxy.

Determine the context of the situation

The active supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy is usually what produces the jets. More precisely, a black hole is considered “active” when it devours (or “gathers”) a mass from a giant disk of material around it.

However, something really unknown is why in some galaxies they grow to extremely huge sizes, on megafarsk scales, called giant radio galaxies.

Researchers led by an astronomer Martin helloFrom the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, V paper Posted in April this year the following:

“If there are features of host galaxies that are an important cause of the growth of giant radio galaxies, the hosts of the largest giant radio galaxies likely possess them.”

“Similarly, if there are special large-scale environments that are hugely conducive to the growth of giant radio galaxies, then the largest giant radio galaxies are likely to be located there.”

In search of values

You are researchers I looked for these outliers in the data collected by low frequency array 🇧🇷Louvre) in Europe, an interferometric network consisting of approximately 20,000 radio antennas distributed in 52 locations across Europe.

They then re-hashed the data by repartitioning it, taking out embedded radio sources that could get in the way and altering the detection processes of the fuzzy radio lobes, and correcting for optical distortion.

in Pictures The results represent, according to the team, the most sensitive survey of the galaxy’s radio lobes ever conducted.

They then used the best pattern-recognition tool available and what the scientists say was their own eyes to pinpoint their target.

This is how they find Alcyoneus looming over from a galaxy a few billion light-years away.

“Geometry aside, Alcyoneus and its host are suspiciously common: the low-frequency luminosity density, stellar mass, and supermassive black hole mass are all smaller, albeit similar, than those of the medial giant radio galaxies.”the researchers wrote.

“Thus, very massive galaxies or central black holes are not necessary for the growth of giants, and if the observed condition represents the source throughout its life, then there is also no high radio energy.”

Whatever lies behind it all, researchers believe Alcyoneus is growing more and more in the cosmic darkness.