Alcyoneus, shown below, might have been the queen of all galaxies when it was discovered in 2022 and thought to be the largest radio structure of galactic origin at 16 million light-years, but since then, it has been superseded by the Porphyrion radio galaxy, artist's impression shown above, which is even larger at 23 million light-years.
Alycyoneus is 3.5 billion light-years away and superficially looks like an ordinary galaxy, but its central supermassive blackhole produced relativistic jets 16 million light-years long, which is the source of radio emission.
Porphyrion, just like Alycyoneus, is a galaxy 7.5 billion light-years away, with a jet even longer at 23 million light-years, and it also produces radio emissions, making it the largest known radio structure of galactic origin at the moment, the king of all galaxies.
Relativistic jets are produced by supermassive black holes during their feeding on matter, which causes the creation of an accretion disk. Strong magnetic fields result in relativistic jets emanating from the poles of rotating supermassive black holes. They look like laser swords from Star Wars, but are on a much larger scale, and in the case of these radio galaxies, they can be even up to 23 million light-years long.
Radio emissions from relativistic jets are thought to be due to synchrotron radiation from relativistic electrons spiraling in magnetic fields.
The question was: Why is Alcyoneus called the "queen of all galaxies," and what makes it so special compared to others like the Milky Way?
The real image of the Alcyoneus Galaxy.
The real image of the Porphyrion Galaxy.
Post a Comment