What\u2019s more, the researchers found two more powerful radio signals that offer valuable information about the dynamics of ORCs, first discovered six years ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cORCs are among the most bizarre and beautiful cosmic structures we\u2019ve ever seen\u2014and they may hold vital clues about how galaxies and black holes co-evolve, hand-in-hand,\u201d said Ananda Hota, study lead author and founder of the RAD@home Astronomy Collaboratory for citizen science research, in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n An ongoing puzzle <\/p>\n As the name suggests, odd radio circles are only visible to radio telescopes, which operate at comparatively low frequencies. At other frequencies, or wavelengths, they become invisible\u2014one reason they only recently came into view, owing to advances in radio astronomy.<\/p>\n Given their novelty, astronomers have yet to pinpoint an exact cause for odd radio circles. The handful of detections so far have suggested they could be shockwaves<\/a> from merging galaxies<\/a> or black holes, or even the remnants<\/a>\u00a0of supernovas.\u00a0Either way, ORCs almost always materialize near large galaxies<\/a>, hinting there should be some correlation between the two.<\/p>\n The new discovery raises another possibility. What if these rings are the product of \u201csuperwinds\u201d compressing dormant radio lobes? Galactic superwinds can emerge from a variety of powerful extragalactic events, which could explain why past ORC observations had conflicting sources.<\/p>\n Many moving parts <\/p>\n The other two radio signals that the researchers found nearby also support this hypothesis. Specifically, these were two gigantic galaxies in a crowded galaxy cluster that were blasting out powerful jets of plasma and radio emissions. Their activity, coupled with the local environment, likely helped shape the rings, the researchers said.<\/p>\n \u201cThese discoveries show that ORCs and radio rings are not isolated curiosities,\u201d noted Pratik Dabhade, study co-author and an astronomer at the National Centre for Nuclear Research in Poland, in the statement. \u201cThey are part of a broader family of exotic plasma structures shaped by black hole jets, winds, and their environments.\u201d<\/p>\n The signals were first detected by citizen scientists using the Low Frequency Array, a sensitive radio telescope based in Europe. Professional scientists associated with the RAD@home Astronomy Collaboratory helped assess and confirm the validity of their findings.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that citizen scientists uncovered them highlights the continued importance of human pattern recognition, even in the age of machine learning,\u201d Dabhade added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For lovers of cool astronomy and math, this finding is a real treat. Citizen astronomers stumbled upon not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[72520,108256,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-199649","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-citizen-science","9":"tag-radio-astronomy","10":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Rad](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/RAD-odd-radio-circle-optical-press-1280x1280.jpg\")
Optical RGB image from the Legacy Surveys, overlaid with radio emission in red from the LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey (LoTSS), showing the \u2018odd radio circle\u2019 (ORC) RAD J131346.9+500320. Credit: Rad@home Astronomy Collaboratory <\/p>\n