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https://theconversation.com/combined-power-of-two-telescopes-is-helping-crack-the-mystery-of-eerie-rings-in-the-sky-180595>
"When astronomers dream of their ideal telescopes, it’s not that different to
what people want from their TVs and computer monitors. Images they produce
should be large and high definition, such as those from the Australian Square
Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), which have ~10k resolution (beyond the
typical quality you get from digital TVs and digital cinematography). And they
should have a high dynamic range, indicating high quality imaging with deep
sensitivity to faint objects.
But not every telescope can do it all. That’s why complementary science – using
some telescopes for some tasks, others for different but related tasks, and
then combining the data – is so important in astronomy.
The value of complementary science is emphasised in our recent paper. We worked
with ASKAP and South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope to harness their different
capabilities. In 2019, ASKAP discovered a rare and mysterious type of object,
referred to as an “odd radio circle” (ORC). We didn’t know what these eerie
glowing rings in the sky were.
It took data from MeerKAT to help us conclude that the circles are most likely
enormous shells of gas, about a million light years across, emanating from the
central galaxy."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
