MeerKAT observations detect a mysterious faint radio ring

A global workforce of astronomers experiences a serendipitous discovery of a brand new radio ring towards the Galactic heart. The newfound object is comparatively faint and its true nature is but unknown. The discovering was reported in a research paper forthcoming within the Astronomy & Astrophysics journal.

Latest huge space radio continuum surveys have revealed the presence of low floor brightness ring-like radio sources, usually related to the late phases of stellar evolution. These so-called odd radio circles (ORCs) are normally mysterious gigantic rings of radio waves and their origin remains to be unexplained.

Now, a brand new supply of this sort, which resembles an ORC, has been discovered by a bunch of astronomers led by Cristobal Bordiu of the Catania Observatory in Italy. The supply, designated J1802–3353 and dubbed Kýklos (which means “circle” in Greek), was detected with the MeerKAT radio telescope.

“We current the serendipitous discovery of a brand new radio-continuum ring-like object nicknamed Kýklos (J1802–3353), with MeerKAT UHF and L-band observations,” the researchers wrote within the paper.

Kýklos was recognized by Bordiu’s workforce about 6.0 levels from the Galactic aircraft and shut (in projection) to the Galactic heart. The item has a diameter of roughly 80 arcseconds and a thickness of about six arcseconds.

In MeerKAT total depth maps, Kýklos seems as a faint ring-like construction, clumpy and practically round. The ring’s look resembles a limb-brightened shell, with the inside devoid of detectable emissions.

Morphologically, Kýklos resembles an odd radio circle. Nonetheless, it’s situated at a a lot decrease Galactic latitude than the identified ORCs. Furthermore, it is usually one order of magnitude fainter at 1.0 GHz and has a a lot flatter spectral index when in comparison with the inhabitants of detected ORCs.

Subsequently, the astronomers take into consideration a number of different hypotheses that might clarify the character of Kýklos: a Galactic supernova remnant, a planetary nebula, a nova remnant, and a circumstellar shell round an advanced huge star.

Primarily based on the evaluation of collected information, the authors of the paper concluded that Kýklos being a circumstellar shell round, probably, a Wolf-Rayet (WR) star, is probably the most believable situation.

“Primarily based on the restricted information at the moment out there, the morphological and spectral traits of Kýklos seem extra in keeping with these of a WR shell. This interpretation is additional supported by the absence of a detectable central level supply within the L-band picture,” the scientists defined.

Comply with-up multiwavelength observations are required with a view to totally characterize Kýklos and to establish a attainable central supply, which might verify the WR shell speculation.

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