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Astronomers Discover Most Distant And Powerful Odd Radio Circle In The Universe

Astronomers Discover Most Distant And Powerful Odd Radio Circle In The Universe

Astronomers have identified a rare odd radio circle — twin rings surrounding a galaxy 7 billion light-years away.

Written by Gadgets 360 Staff | Updated: 15 October 2025 19:07 IST

Astronomers Discover Most Distant And Powerful Odd Radio Circle In The Universe

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Astronomers discovered the most distant, powerful odd radio circle 7 billion light-years away

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Highlights

Twin radio rings detected around galaxy 7 billion light-years away
Citizen scientists helped identify the most distant odd radio circle
ORCs may reveal how galaxies and black holes co-evolve

Astronomers have found the most powerful and distant so-called odd radio circle (ORC) that has ever been observed. ORCs are radio wave rings around galaxies; originally identified in 2019, approximately a dozen have been identified to date. It is a peculiar ORC, with two intersecting rings and approximately 7 billion light-years distant. Citizen scientists who scan radio data flagged it, and this can potentially be used to explain how these rings are formed as well to scientists.

Discovery of distant twin radio rings

According to the research, a galaxy is discovered to be surrounded by the newly discovered ORC. It has two overlapping radio rings, which were only used once previously. The rings themselves are nearly one million light-years across, and the closest and the most powerful ORC that is known is about 7 billion light-years away.

The rings were first identified by volunteers in a citizen-science project and verified by the LOFAR telescope by astronomers. The Milky Way is approximately 100,000 light-years, and its rings are almost tenfold. Scientists observe that such ORCs can contain a hint to the co-evolution between the galaxies and their black holes.

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What are odd radio circles?

The odd radio circles (ORCs) are a fairly recent occurrence in the universe. They are faint rings of radio emission of distant galaxies. Only roughly a dozen ORCs have been discovered so far with the first being discovered in 2019 by an Australian radio telescope.

Each of the ORCs is tens of times the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy. Scientists believe they can be made during the huge processes in the galactic centers, including shock wave of merging supermassive black holes.

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