Early Universe Monster Black Hole's Jet Continues Glowing in Big Bang's Remnants
Across the vast, endless cosmos, the ghostly spectacle of an ancient supermassive black hole has been captured, exploding a giant energy jet into the early universe. This incredible snapshot was only possible thanks to the delicate "afterglow" of the Big Bang and a remarkable NASA space telescope that may soon vanish forever.
The eerie image originates from quasar J1610+1811, radiating from around 11.6 billion light-years away, during the cosmic noon — a period of the universe between 2 billion and 3 billion years post-Big Bang. Quasars are titanic black holes that emit giant, sword-like beams of energy at right angles to their swirling accretion disks. Researchers have been yearning for a detailed peek at J1610+1811's energy jet since its discovery in 2018, and now, they finally have one.
The groundbreaking image arrived courtesy of NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which is finely calibrated to track some of the most formidable wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. The research team published their findings on April 13, with the paper slated for future publication in The Astrophysical Journal. They presented their discoveries at the 246th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, held June 8-12 in Anchorage, Alaska.
Using this fresh perspective, the researchers calculated that the quasar's jet extends beyond 300,000 light-years—roughly triple the size of the Milky Way. High-energy particles within the jet are estimated to race from the black hole at close to the speed of light.
"The jet from J1610+1811 exhibits breathtaking power, carrying roughly half the energy as the intense light from the searing gas surrounding the black hole," NASA representatives wrote in a statement.
Behold the first direct image of a supermassive black hole blasting a jet of particles
Despite their intimidating might, jets such as J1610+1811's are elusive because they often point away from Earth, making them appear faint in our view. But Chandra could detect this jet because it is "being bathed in the leftover glow from the Big Bang itself," NASA representatives explained. This afterglow is the cosmic microwave background (CMB), lingering radiation from just after the cosmos-birthing explosion that permeates the entire universe.
In cosmic noon, the CMB was far denser than the version we can currently detect from Earth. This high density created the static heard on radios and shown on old televisions. As electrons from the black hole's jet rocketed toward Earth, they collided with photons within the CMB and were catapulted into X-rays—detectable by Chandra.
Without the CMB's density during this era, the quasar would not have emitted X-ray light, and the image would not have been possible. The researchers also captured less-intricate images of another quasar, J1405+0415, which shines toward us from the cosmic noon. These new observations could help unravel the mystery of why quasars and other supermassive black holes expanded faster and larger during this period than ever before in the cosmos' history.
X-ray Oblivion
Despite its estimated 10 years of viable operational life remaining, Chandra's future remains in question due to financial issues and proposed budget cuts. These challenges could jeopardize the observatory's capacity to keep contributing to essential astrophysical research.
Chandra's demise would be akin to an "extinction-level event" for X-ray astronomy in the United States, according to the website savechandra.org. Overall, the proposed budget cuts and funding woes represent a serious threat to Chandra's ability to continue shedding light on supermassive black holes and other cosmic phenomena.
- Gigantic black hole jets approaching the size of 140 Milky Ways
- Lab-grown black hole jets achieve breakthroughs
- Rare black hole energy jet exposed tearing through a spiral galaxy resembling our own
"I'm aghast at the prospect of Chandra being shut down prematurely," Andrew Fabian, an X-ray astronomer at the University of Cambridge, told Science magazine in 2024. "If you slash funding so severely, you'll lose an entire generation of X-ray astronomers," Elisa Costantini, an astronomer at the Netherlands Institute for Space Research, added in an interview with Science. The loss would leave a gaping hole in our knowledge of high-energy astrophysics, she said.
- Researchers estimate that the energy jet from the supermassive black hole in quasar J1610+1811 extends beyond 300,000 light-years, approaching the size of 140 Milky Ways.
- In the realm of environmental-science and technology, lab-grown black hole jets are making breakthroughs, offering a means to further study and understand these cosmic phenomena in a controlled environment.
