Astronomers have discovered the largest galaxy – 153 times the size of our own Milky Way.

The galaxy, known as Alcyoneus, is about 3 billion light-years and 16.3 million light-years from Earth.

In comparison, the Milky Way is less than 106,000 light-years across.

Recognized as a giant radio star, Alcionus has a host galaxy with massive jets and lobes from its center.

Not much is known about these mysterious radio galaxies, but experts believe that jets and related flaps are a by-product of the supermassive black hole active in the galaxy.

The black hole is defined It is “active” when eating or “accumulating” an object from a large disk surrounding it.

However, not all of these objects end up outside the event horizon because a small portion is sent to the poles from the inside of the disk, where it is pushed into space. In the jet form of ionized plasma.

These jets can travel wide distances at the speed of light, before being scattered by giant radio-radiating lobes.

Despite the size of Alcyonius, the type of radio lobes it emits is not uncommon. It is also known that our Milky Way has its own radio flaps.

But one of the most mysterious things about Alcionius and other massive galaxies is how large it grows.

Researchers led by the Leiden Laboratory in the Netherlands hope that the discovery of sinuses will shed light on how radio galaxies form and why they are so large.

“If the properties of the host galaxies are the main reason for the growth of giant radio galaxies, the hosts of the largest giant radio galaxies are more likely to have them,” Martin Uwe of the Leiden Laboratory predicted. Copy of the study. Paper.

Similarly, if some large-scale environments are significantly favorable for the growth of giant radio galaxies, large giant radio galaxies are likely to be located within them.

Oi and his crew discovered the largest known galaxy Locate outliers in data collected by low frequency band (LOFAR) in Europe.

LOFAR has approximately 20,000 radio antennas and is distributed across 52 locations across the continent.

To detect and repair radio lobes, researchers had to remove embedded radio sources from images Any visual distortions led them to Alcionius.

According to astronomers involved in the study, the largest known galaxy is surrounded by a cosmic web 240 billion times larger than the Sun.

Think so The giant black hole at the center of Alcionius is 400 million times larger than the Sun.

Although both parameters appear to be very large, they are Actually at the lower end of the giant radio galaxy.

“Far from geometry, Alcionius and its host are suspiciously normal: the total low-frequency luminosity density, stellar mass, and supermassive black hole mass, despite their similarities, are much smaller than those of intermediate giant radio galaxies,” the authors wrote. Their book. Paper.

Therefore, very large galaxies or central black holes are not necessary for the growth of large giants, and if the observed state is the source for its entire life, there is no high radio energy.

Researchers hope that their study will help astronomers learn more about how radio galaxies formed, how much and at what rate Alsonius grows, and whether there are larger galaxies.

The study will be published in the journal Astronomy and astronomy.