Landmark Achievement: 6 Astronomers from India Discover Giant Radio Galaxies (GRGs)

• Six astronomers from India have recently discovered the largest galaxies known to the universe, called Giant Radio Galaxies (GRGs)
• Only 300 out of total number of galaxies are classified as Giang Radio Galaxies
• The research was successful taking into account the research of last 6 decades of radio astronomy

July 06, 2017: A team of six astronomers from India has made a landmark discovery. Using the research from last six decades of radio astronomy and a 20-year-old survey, the team has detected the existence of Giant Radio Galaxies (GRGs).

Giant Radio Galaxies are known to be the largest galaxies in the universe. The reason for their large size is unknown as of now. As one of the lead researcher, Pratik Dabhade from Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), explains in the study, "The huge size of GRGs has defied any theoretical explanation so far. Our work will help in understanding how these galaxies grow to be so large."

The other researchers also involved include Joydeep Bagchi (IUCAA), Mamta Pommier (CNRS Observatoire de Lyon), Madhuri Gaikwad (Max Planck Institute Bonn), Shishir Sankhyayan (IISER Pune) and Somak Raychaudhary (IUCAA).

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Their research has been published in Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The Giant Radio Galaxies are found co-existing with a supermassive black hole at the core of center of the nucleus. High energy particles are discharged at the speed of light which emerges into two giant radio lobes.

The Giant Radio Galaxies are known to be the last stage of evolution of galaxies, mainly because of their massive size. However, these galaxies are visible only through radio telescopes.

– by Saksham Narula of NewsGram. Twitter: @Saksham2394