Strange radio objects coming from distant galaxy ‘defy theory’, baffled scientists say

A GROUP of rarely observed radio objects have been spotted out in a distant galaxy cluster which has left scientists scratching their heads.

The objects in question include a radio relic, a radio halo, and fossil radio emission.

Christopher Riseley

Galaxy cluster Abell 3266, where the strange discovery was made[/caption]

But why is it significant?

Well, it defies existing theories about the origins of such objects, as well as their characteristics.

The strange discovery was spotted within a galaxy cluster known officially as Abell 3266.

It’s situated a whooping 800 million light-years away, stretching across 300 million light-years of sky in the southern constellation of Reticulum.

There are actually loads of galactic clusters out there, but the galaxies only really represent a small amount of what’s in them.

About 80 percent is dark matter.

A group of scientists combined their findings to form a striking image, but noticed some bits weren’t quite right.

For example, the relic takes on an unusual concave shape that’s not been seen before.

As such, it’s been fittingly dubbed the “wrong-way” relic.

“If it’s a shock wave, you might think it would bend down like an arc around the edge, but this one is flipped around,” Dr Tessa Vernstrom, Senior research fellow, The University of Western Australia told ABC News.

And it’s a lot brighter too.

“So we don’t really understand what that’s telling us,” she continued.

“Maybe there’s some kind of new physics going on there that we haven’t fully understood when our models can’t match the observations.”

This is just the beginning of what astronomers hope to understand.

Over the next five years, the telescope situated in outback Western Australia will scan the entire southern sky where more clues may lurk.

The research was published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.