Tag Archive for 'Cosmic jet'

This image of OJ 287 reveals the sharply curved, ribbon-like structure of the plasma jet emitted from its center. Image credit: Efthalia Traianou / Heidelberg University / IWR.

OJ 287 Galaxy Likely Harbors Supermassive Black Hole Binary at Its Center, Observations Suggest

Jul 31, 2025 by News Staff

Using data from the 10-m space radio telescope RadioAstron and a network of 27 ground-based observatories, astronomers have detected an unusual ribbon-like...

A high-energy photonic jet (white and blue) blasts through a collapsar with a black hole at its center; the red space around the jet represents the cocoon where free neutrons may be captured causing the r-process, the nucleosynthesis that results in the formation of heavy elements. Image credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Stars Dissolve into Neutrons to Form Heavy Elements, Study Suggests

Apr 24, 2025 by News Staff

High-energy photons produced deep in gamma-ray burst jets emerging from a collapsed star could dissolve the outer stellar layers into free neutrons, causing...

An artist’s impression of a blazar. Image credit: DESY / Science Communication Lab.

Astronomers Discover Most Distant Known Blazar

Jan 10, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers have discovered a blazar — a quasar with a jet aligned along our line of sight — at redshift of 7. Named VLASS J041009.05-013919.88,...

Multiwavelength image of the massive galaxy cluster SDSS J1531+3414. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / Omoruyi et al. / STScI / Tremblay et al. / ASTRON / LOFAR / NASA / CXC / SAO / N. Wolk.

Astronomers Detect Mega-Eruption from Supermassive Black Hole in Distant Galaxy Cluster

Feb 22, 2024 by News Staff

Some of the gas sent gas away from the supermassive black hole — which is located in the center of the galaxy cluster SDSS J1531+3414 (SDSS J1531...

This Webb image shows a Herbig-Haro object called HH 797. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / T. Ray, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Webb Reveals Herbig-Haro Object in Unprecedented Detail

Nov 28, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has captured a very detailed image of the Herbig-Haro object 797 (HH 797), which is located in the northern...

This Hubble image shows G35.2-0.7N, a star-forming region some 7,200 light-years away in the constellation of Aquila. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Fedriani / J. Tan.

Hubble Space Telescope Spots Massive-Star Forming Region

Oct 2, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

At least one B-type star — the second most massive type — lurks within a star-forming region called G35.2-0.7N, and a powerful protostellar...

Schematic representation of the tilted accretion disk model. The black hole spin axis is assumed to be straight up and down in this illustration. The jet direction points almost perpendicular to the disk plane. The misalignment between the black hole spin axis and disk rotation axis triggers the precession of the disk and jet. Image credit: Cui et al. / Intouchable Lab@Openverse / Zhejiang Lab.

Messier 87’s Supermassive Black Hole is Indeed Spinning, Astronomers Say

Sep 27, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Messier 87 is a giant elliptical galaxy located some 53 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. In April 2019, astronomers from the Event...

This Webb image shows HH 211, a Herbig-Haro object located 1,000 light-years away in the constellation of Perseus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / T. Ray, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Outflows from Young Protostars are Mostly Molecular, Webb Astronomers Find

Sep 17, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Herbig-Haro (HH) objects are formed when stellar winds or jets of gas spewing from protostars form shock waves colliding with nearby gas and dust at high...

This artist’s impression shows the millisecond pulsar PSR J1023+0038 stealing gas from its companion star. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser.

Matter Ejections Explain Peculiar High-Low Mode Switches in Distant Millisecond Pulsar

Aug 30, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The millisecond pulsar PSR J1023+0038 is known to switch between two brightness modes almost constantly, something that until now has been an enigma. This...

An artist’s impression of a jet emanating from NGC 4993. Image credit: J.A. Biretta et al / NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / Sci-News.com.

Astronomers Detect Variability in Extragalactic X-ray Jets

May 30, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers discovered only relatively recently that black hole jets emit X-rays, and how the jets accelerate particles to this high-energy state is a...

This composite image shows the elliptical galaxy Centaurus A: blue color shows X-ray light captured by Chandra, orange represents X-rays detected by IXPE, and optical light seen by ESO is colored white and gray. Image credit: NASA / MSFC / IXPE / Ehlert et al. / CXC / SAO / ESO / WFI / J.Schmidt.

IXPE Observes Jet from Centaurus A’s Supermassive Black Hole

May 4, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Centaurus A is located 13 million light-years away in the constellation of Centaurus, and represents the fifth brightest galaxy in the sky. This composite...

In this artist’s conception, M87*’s massive jet is seen rising up from the center of the black hole. Image credit: S. Dagnello, NRAO, AUI & NSF.

New Images of Messier 87’s Black Hole Reveal Glowing Ring and Powerful Jet

Apr 27, 2023 by News Staff

In 2017, astronomers from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration captured the first image of a black hole by coordinating radio dishes around...

This image, captured by the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), shows the young stellar object 244-440 in the Orion Nebula. Image credit: Kirwan et al. / ESO.

VLT Spots Spectacular Bipolar Jet from Young Stellar Object in Orion Nebula Cluster

Apr 18, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have captured the most detailed image yet of the young stellar object 244-440 and the bipolar jet associated...

ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory recorded 20 dust rings, 19 of which are shown here in arbitrary colors. The image merges observations made two and five days after GRB 221009A erupted. Dark stripes indicate gaps between the detectors. A detailed analysis shows that the widest ring visible here, comparable to the apparent size of a full Moon, came from dust clouds located about 1,300 light-years away. The innermost ring arose from dust at a distance of 61,000 light-years -- on the other side of our Galaxy. Image credit: ESA / XMM-Newton / M. Rigoselli, INAF.

Astronomers Capture Reverse Shock Emission from Record-Breaking Gamma-Ray Burst

Mar 28, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers have provided vital information in the global effort to understand GRB 221009A, one of the nearest and possibly the most-energetic gamma-ray...

This artist’s conception shows a zoomed in view of MWC 349A and its surrounding disk of gas and dust that are being shaped by the winds and high-speed jet. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / M. Weiss, NRAO, AUI & NSF.

ALMA Spots Hidden Jet from Oddball Star MWC 349A

Jan 9, 2023 by News Staff

The jet observed by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is ejecting material away from MWC 349A at a blistering 500 km per second (311...

This Webb image shows the Cosmic Cliffs, a region at the edge of a gigantic, gaseous cavity within the stellar nursery NGC 3324. The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a orange-burgundy cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively blue upper portion. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / J. DePasquale, STScI.

Webb Reveals Protostars and Energetic Jets in ‘Cosmic Cliffs’

Dec 20, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using the images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered 24 previously shrouded outflows from newborn stars in the...

This illustration shows the IXPE spacecraft (right) observing the blazar Markarian 501 (left). A blazar is a black hole surrounded by a disk of gas and dust with a bright jet of high-energy particles pointed toward Earth. The inset illustration shows high-energy particles in the jet (blue). When the particles hit the shock wave, depicted as a white bar, the particles become energized and emit X-rays as they accelerate. Moving away from the shock, they emit lower-energy light: first visible, then infrared, and radio waves. Farther from the shock, the magnetic field lines are more chaotic, causing more turbulence in the particle stream. Image credit: NASA / Pablo Garcia.

IXPE Spacecraft Examines Particle Acceleration in Blazar Jets

Nov 24, 2022 by News Staff

Blazars are active galactic nuclei with jets of magnetized plasma that point nearly along the line of sight. Most of the light from these extremely luminous...

Kishimoto et al. captured a long-sought-after view of the dusty inner region in NGC 4151. Image credit: Georgia State University / CHARA Array.

Astronomers Detect Innermost Dusty Ring of Active Galactic Nucleus

Nov 19, 2022 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) Array interferometer at the Mount Wilson Observatory have observed the long-sought,...

Hubble Observes Ultra-Relativistic Jet from Neutron-Star Merger

Oct 14, 2022 by News Staff

GW170817, a titanic collision between two neutron stars detected in August 2017, ejected a structured relativistic jet with a speed greater than 99.97%...

Multi-wavelength image of Westerhout 50 (red - radio, green - optical, yellow - soft X-rays, magenta - medium energy X-rays, cyan - hard X-ray emission). The eastern lobe X-ray image highlights the XMM-Newton data (with the brightening at the edge of the field of view cropped here to highlight the source emission). The western lobe X-ray image shows only partial Chandra coverage of part of the nebula. Image credit: Safi-Harb et al., arXiv: 2207.00573.

Astronomers Find Evidence for Unusual Particle Acceleration in Manatee Nebula

Jul 5, 2022 by Sergio Prostak

Using ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory, NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and its Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have...

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