The strange space circle apprehended in unprecedented detail.

Astronomers have only noticed a handful of peculiar radio circles and are trying to figure out what causes them.

Astronomers have taken close-ups of a rare and mysterious space object, giving new impetus to discovering its origins. Odd Radio Circles (ORCs) are gigantic rings of radio waves. Only five have ever been seen and never in spectacular detail.

This image of ORC J2103-6200, also dubbed ORC1, was captured by the high-resolution MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa, which has provided researchers with unprecedented information about this rare phenomenon. Details will be released in a preprint to be published on arXiv1 this week and published in the 30 days Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society2.

New MeerKAT radio data suggest that the ORC's massive outer circle is likely more than a million light-years across, ten times the diameter of the Milky Way, with a series of smaller rings within it. "It reminds me of a Faberge egg or a soap bubble," said Berbel Koribalski, radio astronomer in Sydney at the Commonwealth Australian Organization for Scientific and Industrial Research.

The first three ORCs, including ORC1, were discovered using the Pathfinder Telescope (ASKAP) in Australia. Data for the last year3. Most ORCs have galaxies at their centers, so astronomers speculate it may have something to do with their formation. Also, baffling scientists is that ORCs are only spied on at wavelengths and have not been detected by optical or X-ray telescopes.