The Chandra Observatory found the beam from the supermassive black hole 160,000 light years away, 1.5 times the Milky Way.
Astronomers use NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to detect beams from an object 12.7 billion light years from Earth. If confirmed, it would be one of the objects that fired the farthest beam ever known.
The beams come from objects called quasars, nuclear regions of active galaxies that supply matter to supermassive black holes and can emit enormous energy. The team hopes that by studying the beam called PSO J352.4034-15.3373 (PJ352-15 for short), they can learn about the formation and development of giant black holes in the early days of the Universe Pillar.
“Despite extremely strong gravity, black holes don’t suck up everything nearby,” says NASA. “The material surrounding the hole in the accretion disk must lose speed and energy before it can fall deep into the event horizon, to a point where it cannot be recovered. The magnetic field can create braking effect on the disc. ” an important way to lose energy in the matter of the accretion disk, thus increasing the growth rate of the black hole. “
Astronomers observe the PJ325-15 for 3 days using Chandra. The beam flow extended about 1.5 times the length of the Milky Way, penetrating a distance of 160,000 light years from the quasar (the Milky Way was about 100,000 light years in diameter). The length of the PJ325-15 far exceeds the longest beam ever observed in the first billion years after the universe was formed by the Big Bang (5,000 light years). The results of the research will be published in the Astrophysical Journal.
“The length of this beam is important because it means that the supermassive black hole that powers it has been developing for some time,” said study co-author Eduardo Bañados, astronomer at the Institute.
