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The twin ring Odd Radio Circle (ORC) RAD J131346.9+500320 discovered by RAD@home citizen science research collaboratory. This is currently (2025) the farthest and the most powerful ORC.

RAD@home is a citizen science research collaboratory in India and the first such collaboration in Indian astronomy. It focuses on training university science students to make radio astronomy discoveries using the GMRT, which is a SKA pathfinder radio telescope, and other telescopes operating in multiple bands of the electromagnetic spectrum.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] It was designed to help students and the public to understand multi-wavelength images of galaxies, taken primarily from radio surveys such as NVSS (1400 MHz) with the VLA and TGSS (150 MHz) with the GMRT.[9][10][11]

In 2022, the Collaboratory, led by its founder Ananda Hota, discovered a unique AGN where the radio jet appeared to hit a neighbouring galaxy and bounced back forming a mushroom-shaped radio bubble.[12][13][14] Initial hints of this rare process had been seen in the archival data, but confirmation was not achieved until targeted observation with the GMRT telescope at 325 MHz, or 90 cm, band. In October 2025, the Collaboratory discovered the farthest and the most powerful odd radio circle (ORC), named RAD J131346.9+500320; it was also the first ORC to be discovered through citizen science.[15][16][17][18][19] The ORC was spotted by trained citizen scientists analysing the 144 MHz radio images of the sky obtained by the European LOFAR radio telescope. This ORC was also the first to be discovered from LOFAR low frequency data.[15] The other kinds of astronomical objects that the Collaboratory has discovered and published include episodic radio galaxies (a.k.a. Double-Double Radio Galaxies), relic/remnant radio lobes, large radio lobes associated with spiral galaxies which can be compared to the exotic new class of radio galaxies known as Speca etc. [10][11][20]

Other than contributing to scientific discoveries, the Collaboratory has also been recognised for its innovative approach to education and outreach in astronomy, particularly in radio astronomy.[21] Through a combination of online and offline citizen science workshops, organised in collaboration with national research and educational institutes, it has trained thousands of Indian citizens and students to understand radio observations of galaxies using the GMRT. Following these workshops, trained citizen scientists (also known as e-astronomers and i-astronomers) continue their engagement by participating in weekend online e-classes. These e-classes further enable them to discover new radio sources, primarily using TGSS 150 MHz imaging data obtained with the GMRT. In follow-up observation proposals, these co-discovering e-/i-astronomers are included as formal co-investigators.[10] Through this process, e-/i-astronomers also become co-authors on papers published by the Collaboratory that report citizen-science discoveries, with or without GMRT follow-up observations. [14][19]. Participation in genuine scientific discoveries has helped many students secure admission to Master’s and PhD programmes, both in India and abroad. Thus, despite operating with zero dedicated funding and infrastructure, the Collaboratory has made significant contributions to human resource development and to preparing the next generation of astronomers for upcoming mega-facility projects such as the SKA.[10][21]

References

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  1. ^ "Citizen Science | SKAO". www.skao.int. Retrieved 2025-12-08.
  2. ^ "How to run a successful citizen science project". Nature Index. 2019-08-09. Retrieved 2025-12-08.
  3. ^ "#RADatHomeIndia a Collaboratory model of citizen science research". astro4edu.org. Retrieved 2025-12-08.
  4. ^ Mondal, Monika (2025-11-08). "Mumbai-led team helps reveal mysterious twin rings around galaxy". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2025-12-08.
  5. ^ bhuyan, Avantika (2020-10-01). "How citizen scientists are shaping the future of Indian research". mint. Retrieved 2025-12-08.
  6. ^ "They study galaxies, help predict landslides: Meet India's citizen scientists". Hindustan Times. 2018-04-07. Retrieved 2025-12-08.
  7. ^ Marshall, Philip J.; Lintott, Chris J.; Fletcher, Leigh N. (2015-08-18). "Ideas for Citizen Science in Astronomy". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 53: 247–278. arXiv:1409.4291. Bibcode:2015ARA&A..53..247M. doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-081913-035959. ISSN 0066-4146.
  8. ^ "Inspired by a Bollywood flick and power of Facebook, Indian scientist builds army of e-astronomers- Technology News, Firstpost". Tech2. 2018-02-09. Archived from the original on 2023-06-03. Retrieved 2025-12-08.
  9. ^ Hota, Ananda; Croston, Judith H.; Ohyama, Youichi; Stalin, C. S.; Hardcastle, Martin J.; Konar, Chiranjib; Aravind, R. P.; Agarwal, Sheena M.; Bhoga, Sai Arun Dharmik (2014-02-15). "New results on the exotic galaxy 'Speca' and discovering many more Specas with RAD@home network". arXiv:1402.3674v1 [astro-ph.GA].
  10. ^ a b c d Hota, Ananda; Konar, C.; Stalin, C. S.; Vaddi, Sravani; Mohanty, Pradeepta K.; Dabhade, Pratik; Dharmik Bhoga, Sai Arun; Rajoria, Megha; Sethi, Sagar (2016-12-10). "Tracking Galaxy Evolution Through Low-Frequency Radio Continuum Observations using SKA and Citizen-Science Research using Multi-Wavelength Data". Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy. 37 (4): 41. arXiv:1610.09798. Bibcode:2016JApA...37...41H. doi:10.1007/s12036-016-9415-8. ISSN 0973-7758.
  11. ^ a b Hota, Ananda; Dabhade, Pratik; Machado, Prasun; Kumar, Avinash; Avinash, Ck.; Manaswini, Ninisha; Das, Joydeep; Sethi, Sagar; Sahoo, Sumanta; Dubal, Shilpa; Bhoga, Sai Arun Dharmik; Navaneeth, P. K.; Konar, Chiranjib; Pal, Sabyasachi; Vaddi, Sravani (2025). "Ten Years of Searching for Relics of AGN Jet Feedback Through RAD@home Citizen Science". In Ghosh, Shubhrangshu; Rao, A. R. (eds.). The Relativistic Universe: From Classical to Quantum. Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings. Vol. 61. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. pp. 293–306. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-90186-7_23. ISBN 978-3-031-90186-7.
  12. ^ Simion @Yonescat, Florin (2022-10-11). "Black hole discovered firing jet at neighbouring galaxy". The Royal Astronomical Society. Retrieved 2025-12-05.
  13. ^ "A black hole is firing jets into a neighbouring galaxy". Nature India. 2022-10-19. doi:10.1038/d44151-022-00112-7.
  14. ^ a b Hota, Ananda; Dabhade, Pratik; Vaddi, Sravani; Konar, Chiranjib; Pal, Sabyasachi; Gulati, Mamta; Stalin, C S; Avinash, Ck; Kumar, Avinash; Rajoria, Megha; Purohit, Arundhati (2022-10-12). "RAD@home citizen science discovery of an active galactic nucleus spewing a large unipolar radio bubble on to its merging companion galaxy". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters. 517 (1): L86 – L91. doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slac116. ISSN 1745-3925.
  15. ^ a b Simion @Yonescat, Florin (2025-10-02). "Most powerful 'odd radio circle' to date is discovered". The Royal Astronomical Society. Retrieved 2025-12-05.
  16. ^ "Most powerful 'Odd Radio Circle' so far discovered". Nature India. 2025-10-09. doi:10.1038/d44151-025-00185-0 (inactive 8 December 2025). ISSN 1755-3180.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of December 2025 (link)
  17. ^ Strickland, Ashley (2025-10-14). "Astronomers discover rare double-ringed odd radio circle in space". CNN. Retrieved 2025-12-08.
  18. ^ "First Indian Citizen Science Research initiative: Researchers discover most powerful 'odd radio circle' with help of citizen scientists". The Indian Express. 2025-10-19. Retrieved 2025-12-08.
  19. ^ a b Hota, Ananda; Dabhade, Pratik; Machado, Prasun; Das, Joydeep; Muley, Aarti; Purohit, Arundhati (2025-09-25). "RAD@home discovery of extragalactic radio rings and odd radio circles: clues to their origins". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 543 (2): 1048–1057. doi:10.1093/mnras/staf1531. ISSN 0035-8711.
  20. ^ Apoorva, Prakash; Hota, Ananda; Dabhade, Pratik; Navaneeth, P. K.; Nayak, Dhruv; Purohit, Arundhati (2025-08-22). "RAD@home Citizen Science Discovery of Two Spiral Galaxies Where the 30–220 kpc Radio Lobes Are Possibly Shaped by Ram Pressure Stripping". Galaxies. 13 (5): 98. arXiv:2508.09518. Bibcode:2025Galax..13...98A. doi:10.3390/galaxies13050098. ISSN 2075-4434.
  21. ^ a b Bagla, J. S.; Das, Mousumi; Datta, Abhirup; Gogoi, Rupjyoti; Hota, Ananda; Kembhavi, Ajit; Malik, Manzoor A.; Misra, R.; Pai, Archana; Pandey, Shashi Bhushan; Pandey, S. K.; Rastogi, Shantanu; Ravikumar, C. D. (2025-02-19). "Human resource development in astronomy: An Indian perspective". Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy. 46 (1): 18. Bibcode:2025JApA...46...18B. doi:10.1007/s12036-025-10041-3. ISSN 0973-7758.
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