Astronomers have discovered an oddly bent galaxy that may help shed new light on how the most massive structures in the universe form and evolve.

The boomerang-shaped galaxy was found in a tendril of super-heated gas connecting two massive galaxy clusters. These tendrils — known as filaments — pervade the universe, joining galaxy clusters in an intricate latticework. Though immense, such filaments are tough to see and study in detail, researchers said.
In the new study, gas from a known filament was seen sweeping the previously unknown galaxy into its strange, bent shape. This suggests that similarly bent galaxies could serve as signposts for cosmic gas filaments, which themselves signify fertile star-forming regions, researchers said.
The newfound galaxy resides in an intergalactic filament discovered in 2008 using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which scans the universe in infrared light. The filament runs between two galaxy clusters called Abell 1763 and Abell 1770.
The new bent galaxy sits inside that filament, about 11 million light-years from the center of Abell 1763. Researchers discovered it using two different ground-based instruments — the WIYN Observatory near Tucson, Ariz., and the Very Large Array near Socorro, N.M.
The galaxy has an unusual ratio of radio to infrared light, which makes it stand out like a beacon to astronomers. This is due in part to its twin jets of material, which spew in opposite directions from a supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center, researchers said.
These jets have puffed out into giant lobes of material that emit a tremendous amount of radio waves, they added.
Edwards and her colleagues noticed that these lobes appear to be bent back and away from the galaxy's path through the filament. This bow shape is likely caused by particles in the filament pushing on the gas and dust in the galaxy's jet lobes.
(Source: Space.com)