An unusual double-ring structure spotted in space with the help of citizen scientists has turned out to be a cosmic rarity.
The celestial anomaly, captured by a radio telescope, is an odd radio circle, one of the scarcest and most mysterious objects in the universe, said Dr. Ananda Hota, lead author of a study published in the [Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/543/2/1048/8267915?login=false).
Odd radio circles, also known as ORCs, likely consist of magnetized plasma — charged gas that is strongly influenced by magnetic fields — and are so massive that entire galaxies reside at their centers. Spanning hundreds of thousands of light-years, they often reach 10 to 20 times the size of our Milky Way galaxy.
Eighwrond on
Oh, that’s mine. Dropped it somewhere last week!
MrKillick on
Two rings to rule them all, two rings to find them …
SpursExpanse on
Waiting for the galaxy spanning socks structure discovery to explain where all the lost socks end up
ShipShart on
This is getting out of hand, now there are two of them!
LawUntoMyBooty on
I instantly thought this was a Great Rune from Elden Ring.
12edDawn on
Not sure what that thumbnail picture is supposed to be, but it looks nothing like the picture in the article.
7 Comments
An unusual double-ring structure spotted in space with the help of citizen scientists has turned out to be a cosmic rarity.
The celestial anomaly, captured by a radio telescope, is an odd radio circle, one of the scarcest and most mysterious objects in the universe, said Dr. Ananda Hota, lead author of a study published in the [Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/543/2/1048/8267915?login=false).
Odd radio circles, also known as ORCs, likely consist of magnetized plasma — charged gas that is strongly influenced by magnetic fields — and are so massive that entire galaxies reside at their centers. Spanning hundreds of thousands of light-years, they often reach 10 to 20 times the size of our Milky Way galaxy.
Oh, that’s mine. Dropped it somewhere last week!
Two rings to rule them all, two rings to find them …
Waiting for the galaxy spanning socks structure discovery to explain where all the lost socks end up
This is getting out of hand, now there are two of them!
I instantly thought this was a Great Rune from Elden Ring.
Not sure what that thumbnail picture is supposed to be, but it looks nothing like the picture in the article.