Astronomers Map Ages of 3 Dying Radio Galaxies in XMM-LSS Field

1 articles · Updated · EurekAlert · Aug 18

Spectral-age maps of three remnant radio galaxies in the XMM-LSS field show how long radio-emitting plasma has aged after the galaxies’ central jets shut down.
uGMRT and MeerKAT observations, overlaid on optical images, let researchers measure each galaxy’s radio spectrum and fit spectral-ageing models to the fading emission.
The resulting maps trace age differences across the lobes, helping reconstruct the post-jet evolution of these “dying” radio galaxies rather than just capturing a single snapshot.
Published in MNRAS, the work adds a time-resolved view of how radio galaxies fade after active jet production ends.