In Western Australia, where it is very silent, there is a park of 36 identical radio telescopes: The Australian Square Kilometer Array Array Pathfinder, ASKAP for short. This compact radio telescope has been in use for nearly 10 years, and is currently being used in two major studies.
One such project is called EMU, an acronym for Evolutionary Map of the Universe. About 400 astronomers from 21 different countries are participating in this project, which aims to uncover new radio sources. Two million radio sources had already been discovered before this project began, but the ASKAP telescope is getting deeper into the universe, with more modern measuring instruments. In this way, astronomers hope to discover 70 million new radio sources.
If we look back in time
Thanks to such better equipment, it is possible not only to delve deeper into the universe, but also into the past. As a result, the EMA project will find galaxies in all stages of evolution, all of which generate radio emissions in some way. Everything that emits radio waves is interesting: stars, remnants of stars, all kinds of things that we haven’t seen before. The last category is what they call WTF in Askap. We all know what that acronym stands for, of course: White Field Outlier Finder. A repository of strange radio observations in the starry sky.
Such as the odd radio circuit (ORC), or the alien radio circuit. Five of these radio circuits are now known, and they are astronomical objects that have yet to be explained. The first was discovered in 2019 by astronomer Anna Kabinska of the European Monetary Union. They are circular and radiate strongly at the edges. Remarkably, they can be detected in the radio range, but not in the visible spectrum. In fact, they are invisible. It also does not emit infrared or x-rays.
New celestial body
Two of the five observed radio circles have a galaxy at their center. So it cannot be ruled out that the radio circuits were caused by those galaxies, perhaps through neutron star mergers, gamma ray bursts, or so-called fast radio bursts. If so, radio circuits must have originated in the distant past.
Scientists rule out that the observations are the result of errors in observation. So it appears that individual radio circuits are a new orb.
By the way, they may use ASKAP some scientists in the near future. So if you’ve studied astrophysics…
