MeerKAT Telescope in South Africa Discovers New Galaxy 'Inkathazo'.

Science and Technology

In January 2025, South African researchers and astrophysicists discovered a new giant radio galaxy (GRG) named 'Inkathazo' using the MeerKAT telescope (formerly known as the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT)) in the Northern Cape province of South Africa.


      - The newly discovered galaxy spans 3.3 million light-years from end to end, making it 32 times the size of the Milky Way galaxy and located 1.44 billion light-years away from Earth.

      - The discovery was published in the scientific journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).

     

Main Point :-   (i) Inkathazo, meaning "trouble" in South Africa’s isiXhosa and isiZulu languages, was named due to the complexities in understanding its physics.

      (ii) Giant Radio Galaxies (GRGs) are massive cosmic structures that emit jets of hot plasma, extending millions of light-years into space.

(iii) These radio-bright jets are powered by supermassive black holes located at the centers of galaxies.

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