Mysterious radio signal reveals intricate core of galaxy cluster

Mysterious radio signal reveals intricate core of galaxy cluster

A puzzling radio emission from a galactic cluster located in the constellation may come from the 1.66 million light-year-long radio tail of its dominating central galaxy. 

The team that made this discovery also found evidence of mergers between galaxies in the cluster Abell 1213, which is in the constellation of Ursa Major and is located around 647 million light-years from Earth. The findings are the result of astronomers investigating an anomalous radio emission from Abell 1213. In 2009, observations with the Very Large Array (VLA), comprised of 28 radio antennas spread across the Plains of New Mexico, revealed the presence of a diffuse extended emission from the cluster.

This was initially believed to be from a radio halo, a large-scale source of diffuse (spread out) radio emissions found at the heart of a select few galactic clusters that are created when electrons moving in a circle are accelerated to near-light

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