November 12, 2020

The radio relice in the galaxy cluster CIZA J2242.8+5301

An article published in the journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” reports a study on the galaxy cluster CIZA J2242.8+5301. A team of researchers led by astrophysicist Francesca Loi of the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics, Cagliari, used the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT) to conduct 240 hours of observations to obtain the highest-frequency spectro-polarimetric image ever produced by a radio telescope of what in jargon is called a radio relic. The quality of the observations enabled to obtain better results than previous studies, which were contradictory, leading to controversy.