YSM Issue 97.1

Astronomy
FEATURE
succession of supernovae ceases. Put
differently, once the supernovae “shut
off,” these galactic winds may fall in on
themselves, causing them to turn back into
the turbulent, shocked pools of gas seen in
the radio telescope images. The key is the
wind that continues to propagate through
space after this decoupling stage. Coil and
her team believe that these outflowing
galactic winds may be what’s causing the
ORCs. “You need an extreme starburst and
extreme winds,” Coil said. “You need to be
pushing a lot of mass out for a long period
of time, and then it has to shut off.” A galaxy
like this is uncharted territory in the field
because of the unique set of conditions that
must be present.
To confirm their findings, the team reached
out to Cassandra Lochhaas, an astronomer
at the Space Telescope Science Institute, who
was able to create a computer simulation that
confirmed the physics of the hypothesis and
modeled what such an event would look like.
This simulation showed that the result of
decoupling is twofold. Much of the gas
collapses back into the galaxy,
where there are large areas
of evacuated space after
the burst, yet some of
the gas continues
to flow
outwards into the space surrounding the
galaxy. This, they believe, is a highly plausible
explanation for the radio signals observed
around the special galaxies.
Though this information is a
breakthrough in our understanding of
ORCs, it is only just the beginning. Coil
and her team were the first to observe an
ORC galaxy with optical wavelengths—but
even still, their team only observed in blue
optical wavelengths, meaning additional
wavelengths may paint a more detailed
picture of how these ORCs came to be.
The researchers currently plan to collect
more data on the original ORC galaxy
they were concerned with, but their longterm
goals extend further. This summer,
they will record data on other ORC
galaxies using the aptly named Very Large
Telescope (VLT) in Chile in the hopes of
expanding upon their current research.
Looking back on the entire process,
Coil emphasized the pivotal role of
collaboration in scientific discovery. “It’s
a good example of [how] one person
doesn’t figure everything out,” Coil said.
“You need to have collaborators—people
with the data need to talk to the people
with the theory.” The work she conducted
alongside her team and collaborators
exemplifies the essential nature of datasharing
and scientific cooperation. Such
collaborative efforts not only enhance the
reliability of scientific findings but also
make way for new questions and scientific
avenues to explore.
Coil and her team underscore
the importance of collaboration
in understanding ORCs. Their
work creatively combines concrete
observational data with theoretical
modeling to better understand this
puzzling cosmic phenomenon. Their
discovery of charged gas in one of these
special ORC galaxies paves the way for
further observation and modeling to solidify
their hypotheses and uncover the
mysteries behind these odd
galactic formations. ■
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March 2024 Yale Scientific Magazine 31