Astronomers have found more young and compact radio galaxies. These radio galaxies are also called 'Peter Pan' galaxies as they never grow old because of the power they get from newly energized black holes.
These 'Peter Pan' radio galaxies who never grow old are increasing in number as scientists and astronomers find more of them. That is good news because astronomers can study its relationship between its age and size. Astronomers will also study the young radio galaxies' nature. Astronomers want to find out as to why there are more young radio galaxies than the old ones, according to Phys.org.
"We do not understand how radio galaxies evolve," says Joseph Callingham, a postdoctoral fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) and lead author on the paper describing the result. Astronomers have always thought that all small galaxies will grow into a big one. It has been a long time since the astronomers were observing the small galaxies but they never grow, he added.
After surveying ninety thousand radio galaxies, the astronomers identified 1500 compact galaxies among them, explained the paper published 20 February in the Astrophysical Journal. "These compact galaxies used to be as rare as hen's teeth," says Prof. Bryan Gaensler, a co-author on the paper and Director of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto. Now, there are more and more of the so-called 'Peter Pan' galaxies. It will able them to start over again and study these radio galaxies better, Science Daily stated.
Radio galaxies are powered by massive, larger than millions of sun, black holes. They shine brightly at radio wavelengths. These radio galaxies are more of a compact than young, as the paper stated. They do not expand because the dense gas in it does not let them to. If a galaxy has a dense center, it might never grow into a massive one like the 'old' galaxies.
