South African researchers uncover distinctive giant radio galaxy

South Africa's powerful MeerKAT radio telescope and university researchers have discovered an extraordinary new giant radio galaxy nicknamed “Inkathazo,” meaning “trouble” in the African Xhosa and Zulu languages.

“This discovery sheds light on the evolution of the largest structures in the Universe and offers new, yet confusing, insights into their mysterious origins,” said a statement released by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARO).

The discovery was published Monday in the monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

According to researchers, the plasma jets of this cosmic giant span 3.3 million light-years from end-to-end, which is over 32 times the size of the Milky Way.

The report says giant radio galaxies, or “GRGs” for short, are rare cosmic behemoths spewing jets of hot plasma millions of light-years across intergalactic space.

“These plasma jets, which glow at radio frequencies, are powered by supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies,” it said.

It added that until recently, GRGs were thought to be quite rare, but a new generation of radio telescopes, such as South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope, have now turned this idea on its head.

Kathleen Charlton, a master's student at the University of Cape Town and the first author of the study, said: “The number of GRG discoveries has absolutely exploded in the past five years thanks to powerful new telescopes like MeerKAT.”

She added that “research into GRGs is developing so rapidly that it's becoming hard to keep up. It's incredibly exciting!”

Dr. Kshitij Thorat, a co-author of the study from the University of Pretoria, said “this is an exciting and unexpected discovery.”

“Finding a GRG in a cluster environment raises questions about the role of environmental interactions in the formation and evolution of these giant galaxies,” he added.