Yes, space has “dancing ghosts”

Earlier this year, NASA researchers released an image of “sister” galaxies “fighting” with each other. It was a stunning image, as well as a reminder to call out your siblings or maybe play with them in a Marvel series. Now Australian astronomers have given us another glimpse into the anthropomorphized cosmos.

This time with a pair of greenish “dancing ghosts” a billion light years from Earth.

Jayanne English / EMU / Dark Energy Investigation

Scientific alert picked up on the bright, ethereal ghosts, which consist of jets of electrons five billion light years away. Apparently, this corner of the cosmos is home to two adjacent galaxies. And, each has a supermassive black hole at its center. Said black holes launch the electron jets as they consume chaotic disks of gas and dust around them. This spits particles out into space as their magnetic fields coil and break.

Although black holes like these are common in the cosmos, their jets are often straight. The energetic electron flows pass through space with a seal similar to that of a laser beam, without obstacles. In this case, “intergalactic winds” shape the jets. Thus, giving the impression that two “ghosts” swirl around each other against a background of starry space.

Interpretations will obviously vary, but we see the two ghosts doing a lounge tango with their “hands” clasped above their heads. (Note that the arrow “3” in the image immediately below marks an electron jet “filament” with a still mysterious source.)

Jayanne English / EMU / Dark Energy Investigation

One of the main ghost discoverers, Ray Norris, astronomer at the University of Western Sydney, wrote in a blog post that he and his colleagues still do not understand the details of this horrific cosmic phenomenon. They do not know, for example, where the intergalactic winds are coming from. Nor why the two jets have become so tangled.

To find the answers to these questions, astronomers will continue to scan the skies using the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), an array of radio telescopes in Western Australia. Although they will no doubt find a lot more weird stuff anyway. Like the Orcs. Literally, however: ORCS or Odd Radio Circles are also available, just like the one below.

The story continues

Jayanne English / EMU / Dark Energy Investigation

The Yes, Space Has post ‘Dancing Ghosts’ first appeared on Nerdist.