J0624-6948, the mysterious fire circle, was discovered a few years ago thanks to the ASKAP astronomical observation system managed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia.
The mysterious fire circle captured by ASKAP – (Photo: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)
According to SciTech Daily, it was initially thought to be an ORC (Odd Radio Circle), which remains quite enigmatic but has been frequently observed in the universe, exhibiting noticeable differences in radio spectral indices, apparent size, and more.
The fire circle was further suspected to be the peculiar remnants of an ancient supernova located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, the galaxy that contains Earth.
However, in a new study, a team of scientists led by Professor Miroslav Filipovic from the School of Science at Western Sydney University reported that new analyses indicate it does not belong to any galaxy—neither the Milky Way nor the Large Magellanic Cloud—but rather wanders through intergalactic space, where it seemingly should not exist.
The fire circle is indeed the remnants of a supernova, newly estimated to be about 7,000 years old, a long time for humans on Earth but merely a blink in cosmic time. Due to its unique “wandering” nature, this mysterious fire circle has been dubbed the “Rogue Supernova Remnant.”
