'Odd' circular objects in space may finally have an explanation

A paper on the objects titled "MeerKAT uncovers the physics of an Odd Radio Circle" has been accepted for publication into the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

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The mysterious glowing rings were discovered in 2019 using the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's (CSIRO) Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope in Western Australia. Dubbed odd radio circles (ORCs), they are likely to be enormous clouds of hot gas, spanning roughly a million light-years and originating around a central galaxy.

The MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa has captured one of these ORCs in great detail. In the center of the ORC is a small spot of radio emission coinciding with a distant galaxy, which is believed to have generated the ORC. This video shows an artist impression of an ORC exploding from its central galaxy.

You can read more from the study here.