Astronomy: Tallest black hole ever discovered | Nature Portfolio

A pair of giant jets ejected from a black hole have been discovered, a research paper suggests.natureThese jets are about 7 megaparsecs (about 23 million light-years) long, making them the largest jet ever reported from a black hole.

Supermassive black holes can emit powerful jets of radiation and particles that disrupt the intergalactic medium over millions of years by blasting electrons, nuclei and magnetic fields into space. Previous observations of black hole jets have suggested they are no larger than 5 megaparsecs (one megaparsec is about 3.26 light-years).

Martin Oye and colleagues analyzed radio images from the international LOF Frequency ARray (LOFAR) telescope to study the energy flow in massive black holes. In the process, the researchers identified a large jet they called Porphyryon. Initial examination of the telescope data revealed that the jet’s total length was at least 6.43 megaparsecs. Oye and others noted that the jet likely extended into space, and that the flat image made it difficult to measure the length of the Porphyryon’s line of sight. The researchers used a mathematical formula to correct for this effect, giving the Porphyryon a total length of between 6.8 and 7.3 megaparsecs.

The researchers conclude that the presence of porphyrons is evidence that jets from supermassive black holes can avoid destruction due to fluid instability over vast cosmic distances. However, more research is needed to understand the dynamics that keep porphyrons stable.

Oy, MSSL, Hardcastle, MJ, Timmerman, R. And others. Black hole jets on the cosmic web scale. nature 633537–541 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07879-y

doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07879-y

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