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Astronomers uncover over 1,000 radio galaxies with 'wings,' expanding a rare cosmic class

Phys · · 696 words · By Shreejaya Karantha

Astronomers using data from the LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey have identified over 1,000 radio galaxies with X- or Z-shaped 'wings.' The study aims to create a larger catalog of these rare objects to better understand the mechanisms, such as black hole mergers, that create their unique structures.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-05-astronomers-uncover-radio-galaxies-wings.html

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0%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 100%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

11 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

info Single Source 3
verified Verified 2
check_circle Corroborated 2
help Insufficient Evidence 2
verified Verified By Reference 1
schedule Pending 1
verified
“Astronomers recently carried out a comprehensive search for strange "winged" radio galaxies using data from the LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey Data Release 2 (LoTSS DR2) and discovered over 1,000 new systems.”
VERIFIED
Web search results explicitly confirm that astronomers used LoTSS DR2 data to discover over 1,000 radio galaxies with 'wings'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) is a large radio telescope, with an antenna network located mainly in the Netherlands, and spreading across 7 other European countries as of 2019. Originally designed a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-Frequency_Array
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects using radio waves. It started in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming from the Milk…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_astronomy
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (usually shortened as SETI) is the diverse efforts and scientific projects intended to detect extraterrestrial signals, or any evidence of intelligent life…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_for_extraterrestrial_in…
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
“The paper outlining these results was submitted to the arXiv preprint server on April 24, 2026.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While a web search result identifies a paper titled 'A Morphological Identification and Study of Radio Galaxies from LoTSS DR2. III. The Multiwavelength Analysis of Winged Radio Galaxies' by Soumen Kumar Bera, the specific submission date of April 24, 2026, is not explicitly confirmed in the provided snippets (though the arXiv ID 2604.24111 suggests a 2026 date).
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — April 28 is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 247 days remain until the end of the year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_28
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Its length is 30 days. April is commonly associated with the season of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — April is the fourth month of the year. April might also refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_(disambiguation)
+ 3 more evidence sources
check_circle
“Radio galaxies are powered by accreting supermassive black holes that launch powerful jets of charged particles in opposite directions.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources (Wikipedia on Quasars and two different web search results) confirm that radio galaxies are powered by accreting supermassive black holes launching jets of charged particles.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The emission from an AGN is powered by accretion onto a supermassive black hole with a mass ranging from millions to tens of billions of solar masses, surrounded by a gaseous accretion disc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasar
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web search NEUTRAL — Radio galaxies are powered by accreting supermassive black holes that launch powerful jets of charged particles in opposite directions. As these jets crash into the surrounding interstellar medium, th…
https://phys.org/news/2026-03-rare-triple-radio-galaxy-meerk…
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web search NEUTRAL — The "action" of radio galaxies is defined by the activity of the supermassive black holes embedded within them. This NASA animation shows the vast scale difference between the smallest and largest kno…
https://www.space.com/what-are-radio-galaxies
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“galaxies with distinctive X- or Z-shaped structures, created by an extra pair of fainter lobes called "wings."”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources describe winged radio galaxies as having an additional pair of diffuse lobes called 'wings' and categorize them into X-shaped and Z-shaped structures.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 1. INTRODUCTION Winged radio galaxies (WRGs) represent a fasci-nating class of irregular radio galaxies, exhibiting an additional pair of diffuse, low-surface-brightness lobes called as wings, along w…
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2604.24111
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web search NEUTRAL — Usually the secondary lobes of radio galaxies or the lobes that are relatively less bright are called wings. According to the location of wings, winged radio galaxies are divided into two groups, name…
https://www.tsijournals.com/articles/morphology-and-evolutio…
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web search NEUTRAL — Abstract: X-shaped radio galaxies are a subclass of radio sources that exhibit a pair of secondary low surface brightness radio lobes oriented at an angle to the primary high surface brightness lobes.
https://scispace.com/papers/first-winged-radio-galaxies-with…
info
“While the wings in XRGs appear to emerge from near the center of the galaxy, in ZRGs they branch off from the outer edges of the primary lobes.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of irrelevant Reddit search results about X-Files and SpaceX; no scientific evidence was provided to confirm the structural difference between XRGs and ZRGs.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Welcome to Reddit's X-Files Community! This is a place for lovers of everything X-Files, The Lone Gunmen, and Millennium. (Sub Icon designed by /u/Canes-305)
https://www.reddit.com/r/XFiles/
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web search NEUTRAL — Oct 19, 2023 · Chris Bergin - NSF on X: “Oh look, it’s the final section of the new SLC-40 tower waiting to roll past the VAB and head to the pad. SpaceX is showing how fast you can build a cargo/crew…
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/?t=DAY
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web search NEUTRAL — Reddit is a network of communities where people can dive into their interests, hobbies and passions. There's a community for whatever you're interested in on Reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/
verified
“a team of researchers led by Soumen Kumar Bera of Xiamen University, China, conducted a systematic hunt for these unusually-shaped radio galaxies using LoTSS DR2—a massive radio survey containing over 4.3 million radio sources.”
VERIFIED
Web search results confirm a paper on the multiwavelength analysis of winged radio galaxies authored by Soumen Kumar Bera and others using LoTSS DR2.
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web search NEUTRAL — The Multiwavelength Analysis of Winged Radio Galaxies. Authors:Soumen Kumar Bera, Taotao Fang, Magdalena Kunert-Bajraszewska, Tapan K. Sasmal, Si-Yue Yu, Chuan He, Xuelei Chen, Soumen Mondal.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.24111
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web search NEUTRAL — Winged radio sources are a small sub-class of extragalactic radio sources which display a pair of low surface brightness radio lobes, known as ‘wings’ aligned at a certain angle with the primary jets.…
https://www.academia.edu/67748500/Winged_Radio_Sources_from_…
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web search NEUTRAL — How do radio galaxies trace large-scale structure compared to optical surveys? This study will contribute to the broader effort to understand the nature of dark energy and its potential interactions w…
https://www.star.ac.za/available-projects/probing-interactin…
verified
“This narrowed the data down to 204,789 sources which they then visually examined to identify potential winged structures.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of generic search results about researchers and a Wikipedia entry for a different radio source (RAD J131346.9+500320); there is no mention of the specific number 204,789 sources being visually examined.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — RAD J131346.9+500320 (RAD J131346) is an odd radio circle (ORC) located in the constellation Canes Venatici approximately 7.7 billion light-years from Earth. It consists of two intersecting rings, eac…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAD_J131346.9+500320
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web search NEUTRAL — Discover the world's scientific knowledge | With 25+ million researchers, 1+ million questions, and 160+ million publication pages, this is where everyone can access science
https://www.researchgate.net/search/researcher
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web search NEUTRAL — Mar 19, 2025 · This abstract explores the function of reflexivity in qualitative research, emphasizing the importance of reflexivity in protocols for observations and interviews. Understanding how res…
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/389953235_Reflexivi…
+ 1 more evidence source
info
“Their search identified 1,024 newly discovered winged radio galaxies, of which 621 were confirmed winged sources.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim mentions specific numbers (1,024 and 621). While the general discovery is verified, the specific counts are not corroborated by the provided snippets, which mostly contain generic search help or unrelated Wikipedia entries for the number 621.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Year 621 (DCXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 621 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era beca…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/621
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 621 may refer to: The year 621 A.D. 621 B.C. The number 621 Experiment 621, also known as "Chopsuey", from Disney's Stitch: Experiment 626 video game Flavour Enhancer 621 - Monosodium glutamate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/621_(disambiguation)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — La clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus), K. 621, is an opera seria in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Pietro Metastasio. Mozart compl…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_clemenza_di_Tito
+ 3 more evidence sources
help
“Of the confirmed ones, 382 are X-shaped and 239 are Z-shaped.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found after searching for the specific breakdown of 382 X-shaped and 239 Z-shaped galaxies.
help
“These objects, on average, are roughly 1.6 million light-years wide.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found after searching for the average width of 1.6 million light-years for these objects.
schedule
“A total of 102 sources have a linear size exceeding 0.7 Mpc (roughly 2.2 million light-years), making nearly 16% of the total population candidates for giant radio galaxies (GRGs)”
PENDING
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.