Citizen scientist helped discover RAD-BAARG bow and arrow radio galaxy
A citizen scientist just helped discover RAD-BAARG, a massive radio galaxy stretching 1.8 million light-years across.
What makes it stand out? Its wild "bow-and-arrow" shape: think one jet curving into an enormous arc, the other twisting into an S-shaped structure.
This find is giving astronomers new clues about how galaxies and clusters interact in space.
LOFAR finds shocked jets in RAD-BAARG
RAD-BAARG was first identified by a citizen scientist and then studied using LOFAR's low-frequency sky survey, which picked up faint details invisible to regular telescopes.
Scientists say its unusual shape comes from racing through a crowded galaxy cluster at supersonic speeds, creating shock waves that twist and compress its plasma jets.
As co-lead author Pratik Dabhade notes, future surveys may find many more such systems revealing interactions between jets, galaxies, and their environments.