More than 300,000 new galaxies

More than 300,000 previously undetected galaxies have been discovered in a new radio study. A team of more than 200 astronomers from 18 countries used the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope, based in the Netherlands, to study part of the northern hemisphere at low radio frequency.

With only 10% of the data made public, the revelations are enormous. Using only the first two percent of the study of the sky, the researchers published 26 articles in the journal Astronomy and astrophysics.

A group of galaxies, containing hundreds to thousands of galaxies, can produce massive radio emissions when it fuses with another group. These emissions can be scattered over millions of light years.

"With radio observations, we can detect radiation from the thin medium that exists between galaxies, which are generated by energy shocks and turbulence.Lofar allows us to detect many more of these sources and understand what feeds them. "said Amanda Wilber of the University of Hamburg (Germany) said in a press note.

"What we're starting to see with LOFAR is that, in some cases, clusters of galaxies that do not merge can also show this show, albeit at a very low level that was previously undetectable. This discovery tells us that in addition to fusion events, there are other phenomena that can trigger particle acceleration on a very large scale, "added Annalisa Bonafede of the University of Bologna and the University of Bologna. INAF, Italy.

Massive data has given astronomers a chance to study the supermassive black holes present in and around these galaxies.

"If we take a radio telescope and look up to the sky, we will mainly see emissions from the immediate environment of gigantic black holes. With LOFAR, we hope to answer the fascinating question: where do these black holes come from? "Said Huub Röttgering of the University of Leiden, the Netherlands.

In addition, the telescope can help researchers better understand the phenomenon of magnetic fields. "Measuring the magnetic fields in the intergalactic space can be difficult because they are very weak.However, LOFAR measurements allowed us to measure the effect of cosmic magnetic fields on radio waves of one's own. Giant galaxy radio of 11 million light years.The work shows how we can use LOFAR to help us understand the origin of cosmic magnetic fields, "said Shane O. Sullivan, University of Hamburg.

The researchers aim to study the entire sky with more than 15 million radio sources in the near future. "Among these, there will be the first massive black holes that formed when the Universe was only a" baby ", with an age of a few percent of its current age" said Röttgering.