Astronomers discover a colossal radio jet from the early universe

Astronomers have noticed a massive radio jet in the early universe, which they believe is the largest known of this era.

Jet is at least 200,000 light years long, making it twice the width of the Milky Way. It was formed when the universe was less than 10% of its present age 13.77 billion yearsS Although the aircraft is not the largest in the famous history of the universe, its size and remarkable age raise questions about the source of these jets -some of the most exotic objects in the universe. Team research describing the jet is published today at The letters of astrophysical magazinesS

“There is this idea that perhaps the most powerful jets are created by the most massive black holes or black holes, which are highly accumulating material near the theoretical border,” says Annik Gludemans, astronomer at Noirlab and a lead author of the study, in an in an email to gizmodo. “Therefore, we may have expected this newly opened plane to host an extraordinary black hole, but it wasn’t.”

Radios are known sites in our nearby universe, but are much rarer-or at least less known-in the early universe. Recently studied jet escapes from a quasar or vigorous galactic nucleus called J1601+3102. Astronomers first identified the low -frequency array (Lofar) telescope and the jet details and its source source were collected through observations with close infrared twin spectrograph (Gnirs) and the Eberly Telescope hobby.

The average jet is visible from the bottom flowing from its quasar, reddish spots when the universe was less than 1.2 billion years old. The quasar in question is relatively small – only 450 million times more than the mass of our sun. Thus, the extreme of the jet is a surprise compared to its relatively modest host.

According to noirlab releaseThe deficiency of large radio stations can be due to radiation from the space microwave background, whose noise drowns the radio light. The only reason the team managed to see this particular aircraft is that it is huge for its age.

The largest known jets that together form a Megastructure called porphyrionThey were discovered last year and are 23 million light -years long. This is more than ten times larger than the J1601+3102 size of Jet. If the jets of Porphyrion were as wide as our planet, the black hole that feeds them will be the size of an amoeba. However, the Gloudemans team can only see the jet of J1601+3102, as it appeared in the early universe at the moment.

“We watched this jet as it was 12.4 billion years ago, so it would be greater over time. Porphyrion is an extremely large giant at a distance of about 7.5 billion light years, “Gloudemans said. “Our recently opened plane does not come close to the size of Porphyrion with 23 million years, but it provides evidence of large radio stations that are already in place in the history of the universe.”

Researchers who studied Porphyrion have said that such large jets probably affect the growth of their hosts galaxies and others nearby.

Many questions remain, including how the jets from their environment are formed and in turn form them. The jurors are also at what massive sites they produce what kind of planes and how large the jets can grow. As astronomers collect more observations – new instruments such as a square kilometer will help them in their search – the incredible diversity of these extreme objects and their origin can be clear.