(ORDO NEWS) — With the help of a special modern radio telescope MeerKAT in South Africa, astronomers were able to record a strange signal in a nearby cluster of galaxies, which they had not previously known. This new discovery is described in more detail in an article that was published on September 6 on the arXiv website.
Signals of this type are called radio relics. These are diffuse elongated radio sources that differ from the others in their synchrotron origin. They can arise exclusively at the periphery of galaxy clusters. Astronomers are doing their best to find as many similar signals as possible, which are related to merger shocks, but to date, they cannot boast of much success.
The neighboring galaxy cluster, dubbed A2384, is a complex cluster. It contains two different components, which astronomers have designated as A2384 (N) and A2384 (S). Between them, there is a fairly dense X-ray filament, the length of which reaches almost 2.3 million light-years.
A team of specialists led by Viral Pareh has been observing this cluster of galaxies since late spring last year. Initially, they were able to identify a certain radio source, which was located at the very edge of a cluster of galaxies. In the end, it was possible to establish that this is a radio relic, which turned out to be one of a kind. The power of the radio emission from the source reaches 1.4 GHz.
Astronomers also added that the size and location of the detected source suggest that it appeared as a result of a merger jump and cluster A2384.
Also, experts managed to find a certain radio comb, which is located in the X-ray filament. Astronomers added that this could be a completely new type of radio source that has yet to be studied.
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