动画:古怪的射电环

动画:古怪的射电环

2022年3月30日 Animation: Odd Radio Circles Credits: Illustration: Sam Moorfield; Data: CSIRO, HST (HUDF), ESA, NASA; Image: J. English (U. Manitoba), EMU, MeerKAT, DES (CTIO); Text: Jayanne English Explanation: What do you call a cosmic puzzle that no one expected to see? In this case, Odd Radio Circles, aka ORCs. ORC-1 typifies the enigmatic five objects, only visible at radio frequencies, that were serendipitously discovered in 2019 using the new Australian SKA Pathfinder radio array. The final image in the featured video uses 2021 data from the South African MeerKAT array to reveal more detail. The radio data, assigned turquoise colors, are combined with a Dark Energy Survey optical/IR map. The animated artist’s illustration explores just one idea about the ORCs’ origins. If two supermassive black…

狐獴阵列在无线电波段所拍摄的银河中心

狐獴阵列在无线电波段所拍摄的银河中心

2022年2月2日 The Galactic Center in Radio from MeerKAT Image Credit: Ian Heywood (Oxford U.), SARAO; Color Processing: Juan Carlos Munoz-Mateos (ESO) Explanation: What’s happening at the center of our galaxy? It’s hard to tell with optical telescopes since visible light is blocked by intervening interstellar dust. In other bands of light, though, such as radio, the galactic center can be imaged and shows itself to be quite an interesting and active place. The featured picture shows the latest image of our Milky Way’s center by the MeerKAT array of 64 radio dishes in South Africa. Spanning four times the angular size of the Moon (2 degrees), the image is impressively vast, deep, and detailed. Many known sources are shown in clear detail, including many with…