"ORCs are believed to be made up of magnetized plasma. Distinguishable only in radio light, they're found encircling a galaxy at their center, and are often dozens of times the diameter of the entire Milky Way. Yet, despite their unignorable scale, we still don't know what causes them to form, intriguing astronomers who believe that they could be echoes of catastrophes that shook the cosmosbillions of years ago."
"This latest ORC, referred to by the name of the galaxy it was found in, RAD J131346.9+500320, may provide major clues. Residing some 7.5 billion light years from Earth, the double-ringed ORC sits in a packed area of space called a galaxy cluster, formed from multiple galaxies that are gravitationally bound to each other and are all in relatively close proximity."
An enormous double-ringed Odd Radio Circle composed of magnetized plasma was detected encircling a central galaxy. Odd Radio Circles appear only in radio wavelengths and can span dozens of times the Milky Way's diameter. The object RAD J131346.9+500320 lies about 7.5 billion light years away inside a densely populated galaxy cluster. The cluster environment implies that interactions between surrounding plasma and energetic jets from a central supermassive black hole could shape the rings. Only a few ORCs are known, and their formation mechanisms remain unclear, potentially linking to galaxy and black hole co-evolution.
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