Abell 3266 Astronomers discover a physics-defying shockwave in a distant galaxy
Fossil remains of the black hole-eating frenzy of the past have been found deep within one of the largest galaxy clusters in our sky. Astronomers also saw physics-defying plasma shockwaves, and loops of radio energy within the same galaxy cluster. Key points: Astronomers have discovered a trio of rare objects in a distant galaxy cluster known as Abell 3266 One of the mysterious objects is a shockwave relic dubbed the “wrong way”. The objects were discovered using radio telescopes in Western Australia and New South Wales The cluster – Abell 3266 – is located 800 million light-years away and spans the sky 300 million light-years in the southern constellation Reticulum. An international team of astronomers, led by Christopher Riseley of the University of Bologna in Italy, studied the cluster in detail using the powerful Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder radio telescope in outback Western Australia, and the smaller Australia Telescope Compact Array in Narrabri, New South Wales.