Astronomers have discovered a new odd radio circle (ORC) that is more powerful and distant than any discovered before. What is even stranger is that this object doesn’t appear to live up to its name, looking like a spread-out smudge, because two near-circular rings overlap like a Venn diagram. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

ORCs are one of the completely unexpected phenomena that astronomers started turning up recently when they developed radio telescopes that combine power with wide fields of view. The first was discovered in 2019, but now that astronomers know what to look for, they’ve found six confirmed examples and several more suspects .

ORCs are vast but apparently diffuse structures that emit radiation only

See Full Page