2024-09-19 16:01:25
A research team has discovered a black hole that is shooting matter into space over a distance of 23 million light years. This is a new record.
Black holes are fascinating objects. Due to their strong gravitational force, they swallow everything in their vicinity – even light. But black holes can not only swallow matter, they can also hurl it out into space.
An international research team has now found a black hole that shoots matter into space in two concentrated beams over a distance of 23 million light years. This is a new record. The longest “jet” discovered so far, as the beams are called, measured a distance of 16 million light years.
As the scientific article states, these jets transport “large amounts of energy outwards”. This even influences the “growth of galaxies in the surrounding area”. Until recently, researchers assumed that such jets of matter could only be a few hundred thousand light years long.
But with the help of the Lofar radio telescope, the scientists were able to determine that there are also jets whose length is in the range of millions of light years. More than 8,000 jets emanating from black holes have now been found. The research team named the largest “Porphyrion,” which is the name of a giant in Greek mythology.
After further research, the scientists found a galaxy in the center of the two jets that is about ten times the size of our Milky Way. It is located about 7.5 billion light years from Earth. Until now, the researchers assumed that such enormous jets were a phenomenon of the modern cosmos.
However, jets with dimensions like “Porphyrion” show that they have been around for much longer. This would mean that the jets of matter could have had an impact on developments in space. Study co-author Martijn Oei explains: “Every place in the universe could have been influenced by the activity of black holes at some point in time.”