Overview
- The discovery, led by the University of Mumbai through the RAD@home citizen science program, is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- RAD J131346.9+500320 shows two intersecting radio rings, only the second double-ring ORC reported and the most energetic of its class to date.
- This is the first ORC identified via citizen science and the first found with LOFAR’s low-frequency sensitivity to diffuse, steep-spectrum emission.
- The team also reports two giant radio galaxies—RAD J122622.6+640622 and RAD J142004.0+621715—with million-light-year scales and ring or jet features in dense galaxy clusters of roughly 100 trillion solar masses.
- Researchers propose superwind outflows as a viable formation pathway alongside black hole jet and merger scenarios, with SKA, DESI, and LSST expected to build samples and test these models.