Explanation:
How far can black hole jets extend?
A
new record was found
just recently with the discovery of a 23-million
light-year long jet pair from a black hole active billions of years ago.
Dubbed Porphyrion for a mythological Greek giant,
the impressive jets were created by a type of
black hole that does not usually create long jets —
one that is busy creating radiation from infalling gas.
The featured animated video
depicts what it might look like to circle around this powerful
black hole
system.
Porphyrion is shown as a fast stream of
energetic particles,
and the bright areas are where these particles are
impacting surrounding gas.
The discovery was made using data from the
Keck and
Mayall
(DESI)
optical observatories as well as
LOFAR
and the
Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope.
The existence of
these jets demonstrates that
black holes can affect not only their
home galaxies but
far out into the surrounding
universe.
Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241001.html
