SARAS 3, an indigenously developed telescope, assisted in gathering data on the features of a galaxy that formed only 200 million years after the Big Bang.
The characteristics of a radio bright galaxy that emerged barely 200 million years after the Big Bang have now been established by researchers with the aid of SARAS 3, a radio telescope that was developed and constructed at the Raman Research Institute (RRI) in Karnataka.
The newly discovered data on the Cosmic Dawn period provided new insights into the characteristics of the earliest radio-loud galaxies, which are often driven by supermassive black holes. The information was collected using the SARAS 3 telescope, which was set up in 2020 over Karnataka’s Dandiganahalli Lake and Sharavati backwaters.
Characteristics of First Generation of Radio-bright Galaxies Estimated by Researchers
The energy output, luminosity, and masses of the first generation of radio-bright galaxies were estimated by researchers from the Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bengaluru, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia, and partners at the Universities of Cambridge and Tel-Aviv.
According to Subrahmanyan, a former director of RRI who is now with the Space & Astronomy CSIRO in Australia, “The results from the SARAS 3 telescope are the first radio observations of the averaged 21-centimeter line have been able to provide an insight into the properties of the earliest radio loud galaxies that are usually powered by supermassive black holes.”
Telescope Offers Better Understanding of Cosmic Dawn Astrophysics
According to RRI’s Saurabh Singh, the indigenously developed telescope “improved our understanding of Cosmic Dawn astrophysics, telling us that less than 3% of the gaseous matter within early galaxies was converted into stars, and that the earliest galaxies that were bright in radio emission were also strong in X-rays, which heated the cosmic gas in and around the early galaxies.”
“We have now got constraints on the masses of the early galaxies, along with limits on their energy outputs across radio, X-ray, and ultraviolet wavelengths,” Singh added.
SARAS 3 has been upgraded several times since its latest deployment in March 2020. These advancements are likely to result in even greater sensitivity in identifying the 21-cm signal.
