radio galaxies – News, Research and Analysis – The Conversation

An artistic representation of what a giant cosmic jet the size of the distance between the Milky Way and Andromeda could look like. Author provided

March 12, 2025

Black holes spew out powerful jets that span millions of light‑years – we’re trying to understand their whole life cycle

Gourab Giri, University of Pretoria

Understanding the evolution of radio galaxies is crucial for unravelling the broader processes that shape the universe.

Inkathazo’s glowing plasma jets are shown in red and yellow. The starlight from other surrounding galaxies can be seen in the background. K.K.L Charlton (UCT), MeerKAT, HSC, CARTA, IDIA

January 26, 2025

South African telescope discovers a giant galaxy that’s 32 times bigger than Earth’s

Jacinta Delhaize, University of Cape Town

It’s been a bit troublesome to understand the physics behind what’s going on with Inkathazo.

Some of the satellite dishes that make up the MeerKAT. South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO)

April 22, 2024

MeerKAT: the South African radio telescope that’s transformed our understanding of the cosmos

Ed Elson, University of the Western Cape

MeerKAT has made remarkable contributions to South African and international science.

January 24, 2021

Pasha 92: How we discovered two new giant radio galaxies

Ozayr Patel, The Conversation

CC BY-NC-ND7.23 MB (download)

Radio galaxies may be the oldest galaxy systems, providing clues to the evolution of galaxies.

The two giant radio galaxies found with the MeerKAT telescope. In the background is the sky as seen in optical light. Overlaid in red is the radio light from the enormous radio galaxies, as seen by MeerKAT. I. Heywood (Oxford/Rhodes/SARAO)

January 18, 2021

Discovery of two new giant radio galaxies offers fresh insights into the universe

Jacinta Delhaize, University of Cape Town

Based on what we currently know about the density of giant radio galaxies in the sky, the probability of finding two of them in this region is extremely small.

May 12, 2020

Experts solve the mystery of a giant X‑shaped galaxy, with a monster black hole as its engine

Baerbel Koribalski, CSIRO

Like a cosmic butterfly in the sky, radio galaxy PKS 2014-55 was observed by CSIRO researchers with the Australian SKA Pathfinder telescope.

An image by MeerKAT shows hydrogen gas in M83, a famous spiral galaxy. SKA SA

December 10, 2017

Telescopes in southern Africa will peel back the universe’s secrets from 2018

Imogen Whittam, University of the Western Cape

A precursor to the Square Kilometre Array- the MeerKAT telescope - is being built right now and remarkable progress has been made in the last 12 months.

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