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Unbelievably Stunning: Two Million Light Year Extragalactic Afterburner
Blasting over two million lights years from the center of a distant galaxy is a supersonic jet of material that looks strikingly similar to the afterburner flow of a fighter jet, except in this case the jet engine is a supermassive black hole and the jet material is moving at nearly the speed of light.
Image Credit: Dr Leith Godfrey, ICRAR and Dr Jim Lovell, UTas. Click to enlarge.
Research published over the weekend in the Astrophysical Journal Letters shows the galaxy-scale jet to have bright and dark regions, similar to the phenomenon in an afterburner exhaust called ‘shock diamonds.’
A new image of the previously studied jet reveals regularly spaced areas that are brighter than the rest of the jet in a pattern that echoes the way the afterburner from a jet engine has brighter diamond-shaped areas in its general glow.
“One intriguing possibility is that the pattern we see in this cosmic jet is produced in the same way as the pattern in the exhaust from fighter jet engines,” said Dr Leith Godfrey, from the Curtin University node of The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research.
Dr Godfrey said the jets are produced when material falls onto a supermassive black hole at the centre of a galaxy, but many details beyond that remain unknown.
“Massive jets like this one have been studied for decades, since the beginning of radio astronomy, but we still don’t understand exactly how they are produced or what they’re made of,” he said.
“If the brighter patches are caused by the same process in astronomical jets as they are in earthly jet engines, then the distance between them can give us important information about the power of the jet and the density of the surrounding space.”
Dr Godfrey said that jets like the one he studied are the largest objects in the Universe, about 100 times larger than the Milky Way.
“If we want to understand how galaxies form and grow, we need to understand these jets. They are extremely powerful and are believed to stop stars forming in their parent galaxy, limiting how big the galaxies can grow and effecting how the Universe looks today,” he said.
“This new image of the jet shows detail we’ve never seen before and the pattern we revealed provides a clue to how jets like this one work,” said Dr Jim Lovell, a co-author from the University of Tasmania.
“This particular jet emits a lot of X-rays, which is hard to explain with our current models. Our new find is a step forward in understanding how these giant objects emit so much X-Ray radiation, and indirectly, will help us understand how the jet came to be.”
Dr Lovell said that the image had been taken using the CSIRO Australia Telescope Compact Array radio telescope in New South Wales.
ICRAR is a joint venture between Curtin University and The University of Western Australia providing research excellence in the field of radio astronomy.
Original Publication: Leith Godfrey et al. “Periodic Structure in the megaprsec-scale jet of PKS 0637-752” Published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol 758 Number 2.
http://iopscience.iop.org/2041-8205/758/2/L27
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Kirsten Gottschalk
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research
There is no good evidence that black holes exist at all, and zero evidence for them being at the center of galaxies. Why would a hypothetical “black hole” emit a streamer at all, much less one that is two million light years long?
A rational astronomy and cosmology that neatly explains this phenomenon, including the x-rays, can be found at thunderbolts.info.
You are correct. The existence of “black holes” is purely theoretical. In fact, most of what science knows about the universe is based on theory.
The cosmos is an exceedingly complex mechanism. Only 4% of the universe is even partially understood by science — the other 96% percent remains a complete mystery. The reason for this is elementary: arrogance.
Scientists simply refuse to admit that God created the universe. Rather than by gravity, the universe is formed and held together by electro-magnetic fields which are more solid than rock, yet infinitely more proactive than gravity.
However, science has never been able to identify the source of electricity that makes all this possible. But the Bible says the throne of God is the source. Until science acknowledges this, it will never arrive at any definitive explanation of how the universe works.
bkacjbird was made by brits and given to usa,in 1968,50 years ahead of its time?its been going in and out of earth ,all this time?think about it
its called sr 71,because it officially came into being in 1971, 3 years after brits made it, it can leave earth, x 37 is second type,and leaves earth frequently,
What the heck is a “blacjbird”?
The Blackbird program began in the 1957,
designed by Kelly Johnson and the crew at Skunkworks.
The first one to fly was called Archangel in-house at Lockheed.
The CIA called it Project Oxcart.
First the A-12,then the YF-12…
then the SR-71,which first flew in 1964.
The A-12 was retired in 1968.
The F-12 was cancelled before it was produced.
THE BRITS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF THIS.
They were challenged enough just making imitations of
F-4′s and J-79′s…..
No one knows crap! All the teachings coming from the finest schools do not correspond to the TRUTH. None of us know what exist in the galaxy other than what theory your professor was taught.> and most likley he is guessing too….The end.