Astronomers Uncover Hidden Rings of Light in Deep Universe

The find challenges theories of black hole activity and hints that galactic winds may shape the universe’s rarest cosmic rings, the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society reported.

Astronomers have identified the most distant and powerful “odd radio circle” (ORC) ever observed.

These strange circular structures are a fairly recent cosmic mystery, first detected only six years ago. So far, scientists have confirmed just a few examples, most of them colossal—spanning 10 to 20 times the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy.

ORCs are vast, faint rings of radio energy that surround galaxies and can be detected only in radio wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. They are made up of fast-moving, magnetized plasma. Earlier studies suggested they might form when supermassive black holes or entire galaxies collide, creating immense shockwaves.

A new paper now points to a different explanation. The research team proposes that these ghostly rings of radio light could be linked to powerful “superwinds.” These massive outflows of charged particles are driven by activity within spiral host radio galaxies.

The discovery was led by scientists from the University of Mumbai using the RAD@home Astronomy Collaboratory, a citizen science initiative, along with the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR), the world’s largest and most sensitive low-frequency radio telescope (10 to 240 megahertz).

The source, designated RAD J131346.9+500320, lies nearly at redshift ~0.94 (when the universe was half its current age), making it both the most distant and the most powerful ORC known to date.

It also has not one but two intersecting rings – only the second such example with this feature – sparking more questions than answers.

Dr. Ananda Hota, founder of the RAD@home Astronomy Collaboratory for citizen science research, said: “This work shows how professional astronomers and citizen scientists together can push the boundaries of scientific discovery.

“ORCs are among the most bizarre and beautiful cosmic structures we’ve ever seen – and they may hold vital clues about how galaxies and black holes co-evolve, hand-in-hand.”

RAD J131346.9+500320 is the first ORC discovered through citizen science and the first identified with the help of LOFAR.

LOFAR is a cutting-edge pan-European radio telescope, with hundreds of thousands of simple antennas spread across the Netherlands and partner stations in many European countries. Working together as one giant interferometer, it provides an exceptionally sharp and sensitive view of the sky at low radio frequencies.

It enables astronomers to look back billions of years to a time before the first stars and galaxies formed by surveying vast areas of the low-frequency radio sky.

In addition to the newly identified ORC, the RAD@home Astronomy Collaboratory uncovered two other remarkable cosmic giants.

The first object, known as RAD J122622.6+640622, spans nearly three million light-years—over 25 times the diameter of the Milky Way. One of its powerful jets abruptly veers sideways, as though deflected by an external force, before forming a dazzling ring of radio emission roughly 100,000 light-years wide.

The second galaxy, RAD J142004.0+621715, measures about 1.4 million light-years across. It features a similar ring of radio energy at the end of one jet, while a narrower jet extends in the opposite direction from the host galaxy.

Both of these galaxies lie within densely populated galaxy clusters, regions filled with extremely hot gas at temperatures of millions of degrees. The interaction between their high-speed jets and this surrounding plasma likely sculpts the dramatic radio shapes seen in these systems.

All three of the newly studied objects inhabit galaxy clusters with masses of roughly 100 trillion Suns, suggesting that encounters between relativistic, magnetized plasma jets and the surrounding hot material may play a key role in forming these rare and intricate cosmic rings.

Co-author Dr. Pratik Dabhade, of the National Centre for Nuclear Research in Warsaw, Poland, said: “These discoveries show that ORCs and radio rings are not isolated curiosities – they are part of a broader family of exotic plasma structures shaped by black hole jets, winds, and their environments.

“The fact that citizen scientists uncovered them highlights the continued importance of human pattern recognition, even in the age of machine learning.”

With upcoming facilities such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), astronomers expect many more ORCs to be uncovered.

At the same time, new optical surveys such as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will provide the redshifts and environments of their host galaxies, helping to piece together how these mysterious rings form and evolve.

For now, the three new cosmic rings – discovered not by automated software but by sharp-eyed citizen scientists – represent an important step toward unlocking the secrets of these vast, puzzling structures.

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