Researchers from Western Sydney University and the Australian Research Service (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency, have discovered strange clouds of electrons surrounding galaxies in the depths of the universe.

These clouds, about a billion light-years away and never seen before, resemble two dancing ghosts.

The “dancing ghosts” were discovered as part of the Australian Research Corporation’s first deep-sky search using the ASKAP (Australian Pathfinder Square Kilometer Array) telescope.

The discovery, reported in a paper accepted this week in the publications of the Australian Astronomical Society (PASA), which describes the first experimental survey of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) project, is one of several objects and phenomena being uncovered in deep research according to lead researcher Professor Prof. Ray Norris of Western Sydney University and the Australian Research Authority.

“We’re used to surprises as we survey the skies as part of the Evolutionary Map Project, looking deeper into the universe than any previous telescope,” Norris explained. “And when you boldly go where no telescope has gone before, you’re likely to make new discoveries.”

He added: “When we first saw the dancing ghosts, we had no idea what they were. After weeks of work, we discovered that we were seeing two host galaxies, about a billion light-years away. At their centers are two supermassive black holes, spewing out bursts of electrons that are flexing. Then it turns into ugly shapes by intergalactic winds.”

He continued, “New discoveries always raise new questions and this is not different. We still don’t know where the winds come from? Why are they so entangled? What causes radio transmissions? It will likely take more observations and modeling before we understand any of these.” bodies”.

Other objects and phenomena detected so far as part of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe project include the discovery of mysterious radio circuits (ORCs), which appear to be giant rings of radio emission nearly a million light-years away, surrounding distant galaxies.

Professor Norris noted: “We have even found surprises in places we thought we understood. Next to the well-studied galaxy IC5063, we found a giant radio galaxy, one of the largest known, whose existence was not even suspected. Its supermassive black hole generates jets of electrons It is about 5 million light-years long. The Australian Pathfinder Square Kilometer Array is the only telescope in the world that can see the total extent of this faint emission.”

The Australian Pathfinder Square Kilometer Array (ASKAP) is operated by the Australian Research Corporation (CSIRO), and is part of Australia’s National Telescope Facility. It uses a new technology to achieve a very high scanning speed, making it one of the best tools in the world for mapping the sky at radio wavelengths.