Supermassive Black Hole Jets Recorded Extend Vast Distances

September 20, 2024

Astronomers have recently discovered two enormous beams of energy, called jets, coming from a supermassive black hole in a galaxy about 7.5 billion light-years away. These jets are the biggest ever found, stretching an incredible 23 million light-years across space.

What is a light-year?

A light-year is how far light can travel in one year, which is about 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion kilometers). When we observe objects that are billions of light-years away, we are looking at events that happened billions of years ago, because the light from these objects takes that long to reach us.

What are black holes?

Black holes are extremely dense areas in space with a gravitational pull so strong that not even light can escape them. Most galaxies, including our own Milky Way, have a supermassive black hole at their center.

Formation of Jets

Jets form when a black hole pulls in surrounding matter, like gas and dust. As this material falls toward the black hole, it gets magnetized and accelerated, producing high-energy jets. These jets need a constant supply of material, roughly equal to the mass of the Sun each year, to keep going.

The newly discovered jets, called Porphyrion, are about 30% longer than any jets previously recorded. They are made up of tiny particles, mostly electrons and positrons, moving at nearly the speed of light. These jets are some of the most energetic things in the universe.

Significance of the Discovery

Jets like Porphyrion are so powerful that they release energy comparable to trillions of stars. Their immense size means they can influence vast areas of space, potentially affecting how new stars form and even altering the magnetic fields in the universe.

These jets can heat the gas between stars, preventing it from cooling down and forming new stars. They also extend far beyond their own galaxy, showing that black holes can influence the structure of the universe on a very large scale, including galaxy clusters and vast empty areas called cosmic voids.

Studying jets like Porphyrion helps us understand the major role that black holes play in shaping the universe. By learning more about these powerful jets, scientists can uncover new information about how stars form and how cosmic structures evolve over long distances.

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