MeerKAT discovery of a MIGHTEE Odd Radio Circle
ABSTRACT We present the discovery of a new Odd Radio Circle (ORC J0219−0505) in 1.2 GHz radio continuum data from the MIGHTEE survey taken with the MeerKAT telescope. The radio-bright host is a massive elliptical galaxy, which shows extended stellar structure, possibly tidal tails or shells, suggesting recent interactions or mergers. The radio ring has a diameter of 35 arcsec, corresponding to 114 kpc at the host galaxy redshift of $z_{\rm spec} = 0.196$. This MIGHTEE ORC is a factor 3–5 smaller than previous ORCs with central elliptical galaxies. The discovery of this MIGHTEE ORC in a deep but relatively small-area radio survey implies that more ORCs will be found in deeper surveys. While the small numbers currently available are insufficient to estimate the flux density distribution, this is consistent with the simplest hypothesis that ORCs have a flux density distribution similar to that of the general population of extragalactic radio sources.
Authors
- R. P. Norris (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4597-1906)
- Peter J. Macgregor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1584-5930)
- Catherine Hale (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6279-4772)
- A. R. Taylor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9885-0676)
- M. J. Jarvis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7039-9078)
- B. Koribalski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4351-993X)
Institutions
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (AU)
- University of Cape Town (ZA)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Astronomy and Space (AU)
- Western Sydney University (AU)
- University of the Western Cape (ZA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters
- Published
- 2024-11-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slae114
- Citations
- 8
- Primary Topic
- Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.65
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- Yale University
- Princeton University
- University of Utah
- University of Arizona
- Pennsylvania State University
- University of Virginia
- New Mexico State University
- Space Telescope Science Institute
- UK Research and Innovation
- Heising-Simons Foundation
- University of the Western Cape
- University of Toronto
- Universiteit Stellenbosch
- Cape Peninsula University of Technology
- University of Tokyo
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
- High Energy Accelerator Research Organization
- Yunnan University
- Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- University of Colorado Boulder
- Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
- Science and Technology Facilities Council
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Japan Science and Technology Agency
- H2020 European Research Council