Bow-and-Arrow Galaxy BAARG Signals Supersonic Dive into a Galaxy Cluster
TL;DR Summary
A Himalayan citizen scientist using LOFAR’s LoTSS data spotted BAARG, a colossal radio galaxy spanning about 1.8 million light-years at redshift z≈0.159. Its bow-shaped western arc and bent eastern jet are interpreted as the host elliptical plunging supersonically into a nearby cluster, producing a bow shock that reshapes the jets. BAARG sits in a crowded, multi‑halo environment near Abell 1081, offering the clearest direct radio image yet of this morphology and suggesting many more such systems will emerge with future SKA-era surveys.
- Pranim Limbo, a citizen scientist inspecting deep radio images from a remote hillside in the Himalayas, spotted a galaxy nearly 1.8 million light-years across bent into the shape of a bow and arrow — and the team that followed up thinks it's frozen mid-crash int Space Daily
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