Latest news with #AnniekGloudemans
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
'We were amazed': Astronomers discover oldest, biggest black hole jet in the known universe — and there may be more
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Astronomers have discovered a black hole jet that erupted into existence when the universe was less than 1.2 billion years old, or roughly 9% its current age. The jet spans 200,000 light-years — twice the width of the Milky Way — making it the largest black hole jet ever observed from such an early epoch. Decades of observations have revealed that black holes that lurk at the centers of galaxies accrete nearby gas and dust into a swirling disk. As this material falls in, it releases immense amounts of energy due to friction, thus driving the black holes to expel some of the material as powerful jets. Although radio telescopes have found hundreds of such jets — even large ones — none have been spotted in the distant, early universe. "This discovery now shows that these jets do exist and we can detect them," Anniek Gloudemans, a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab who led the discovery, told Live Science. In addition to helping astronomers pin down when the first black hole jets formed in the universe, the discovery helps them understand how jets influenced the early evolution of their host galaxies, she added. The newly discovered jet blasts from both sides of an actively feeding black hole — a quasar named J1601+3102, which has 450 million times the mass of the sun and resides at the heart of a galaxy approximately 10 billion to 13 billion light-years from Earth. The quasar was discovered in 2022 by a network of radio antennae in the Netherlands that are part of the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR). That discovery, also led by Gloudemans, had revealed that this quasar completely outshines its host galaxy — so much so that it stood out as the brightest among nearly two dozen of its counterparts surveyed by LOFAR. Related: Black holes could be driving the expansion of the universe, new study suggests This caught Gloudemans' attention, prompting her and her colleagues to conduct follow-up observations. This time, the researchers used all of LOFAR's 51 antennae across Europe, effectively creating a continent-sized radio telescope that improved the level of detail by 20-fold compared with previous observations. The resulting image of the black hole jet was crucial in confirming its size, according to the new study, which was published Feb. 6 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Chiefly, that image revealed a northern lobe of the jet located 29,358 light-years from the quasar, as well as a southern blob that appeared to span a whopping 186,954 light-years. Further scrutiny confirmed that the southern blob indeed belonged to the quasar, leading Gloudemans and her colleagues to interpret it as the counterjet, and thus the largest jet observed in the early universe. "We were amazed, but also skeptical, so we made sure to assemble all the evidence before publishing this work," Gloudemans told Live Science. Although not uncommon in the nearby universe, such large jets have remained undetected in the early universe because the radiation left over from the Big Bang, known as the cosmic microwave background, was more intense during earlier epochs, when the universe was smaller and denser. Interactions between this remnant radiation and black hole jets cause the jets — like the newly discovered one — to weaken at radio wavelengths, making their diminished emissions difficult to detect in telescope observations. "It's only because this object is so extreme that we can observe it from Earth, even though it's really far away," Gloudemans said in a statement. Despite the jet's extreme properties, data from the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii show the black hole responsible for the stream is relatively lightweight compared with other quasars from the early universe, which typically have billions of times the sun's mass. This finding suggests the most powerful jets aren't necessarily created from exceptionally massive black holes, or from black holes that are heavily accreting material close to the theoretical limit, Gloudemans told Live Science. RELATED STORIES —Astronomers catch black holes 'cooking' their own meals in bizarre, endless feeding cycle —Scientists discover black holes spinning unexpectedly fast: 'You're essentially looking at its fossil record' —'Impossible' black holes detected by James Webb telescope may finally have an explanation — if this ultra-rare form of matter exists "We were expecting this newly discovered jet to host an extraordinary black hole, but this wasn't the case," she said. More of these extended jets need to be discovered in the early universe for astronomers to better understand how common they were, she said, "but this work at least suggests that a black hole does not need to have an exceptional mass to generate such a jet at this epoch." The immense energy released by black hole jets can alter the evolution of galaxies through several interconnected mechanisms that regulate the amount of material available for forming stars. Therefore, J1601+3102 will be a valuable cosmic laboratory for studying how jets influence galaxies in the early universe. Future observations are likely to reveal more extended radio jets in the early universe, according to Gloudemans. "There are definitely more of these extended radio jets out there," she said.
CNN
13-02-2025
- Science
- CNN
Astronomers spot an unusual, massive jet of material in the distant universe
Astronomers have spied a monster radio jet in the distant universe that's twice the width of the Milky Way galaxy. The ancient object formed when the universe was less than 10% of its current age of 13.8 billion years, according to a new study. 'This is the largest radio jet seen thus far in the early Universe,' said lead author Anniek Gloudemans, a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab, in an email. Until now, these faraway colossal radio jets released not long after the big bang have been elusive, mostly escaping detection, and how they are created remains an enigma, according to Gloudemans. 'Their absence has previously been attributed to the cosmic microwave background (leftover radiation from 13.8 billion years ago), which diminishes the radio light of such distant objects,' she said. Most giant galaxies have a supermassive black hole at their centers. These central engines possess incredibly strong gravitational fields, gobbling up anything that strays too close. Funneling all that material causes some black holes to unleash an extraordinary amount of energy that scientists believe fuel the formation of a quasar — the brightest known objects in the universe. The luminous cores of distant, ancient galaxies, quasars expel jets of energetic matter. With the help of two powerful radio telescopes, astronomers spotted the gigantic two-lobed jet, which spans at least 200,000 light-years. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, which is 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion kilometers). A study detailing the find was published February 6 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. By using telescopes to peer into the distant universe and study the phenomena observed there, astronomers can essentially see back in time. The discovery of the huge radio jet is providing a window into the early days of the universe, shedding light on when the first jets formed and how they shaped galaxies over time. Finding an ancient radio jet in the early universe The quasar that produced the two-lobed radio jet formed when the universe was less than 1.2 billion years old, or 9% of its current age, and it has some oddball traits. Astronomically speaking, the quasar, which weighs 450 million times the mass of our sun, is considered to be smaller than typical quasars, which can reach masses that are billions of times heavier than our star. 'This seems to indicate that you don't necessarily need an exceptionally massive black hole … to generate such powerful jets in the early Universe,' Gloudemans said in a statement. The double-sided jet is also asymmetrical in multiple ways, including the distances it spans away from the quasar, as well as its brightness, 'which seems to indicate that an extreme environment is affecting the lobes,' Gloudemans said. An international team of astronomers first identified the radio jet while using the Low Frequency Array, or LOFAR, Telescope, a network of radio telescopes throughout Europe. Then, the researchers carried out follow-up observations in different wavelengths of light, such as near-infrared using the Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph instrument on the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii as well as visible light with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope in Texas. Together, the different bands of light helped the team piece together details about the large jet and the quasar, named J1601+3102, that produced it. 'We were searching for quasars with strong radio jets in the early Universe, which helps us understand how and when the first jets are formed and how they impact the evolution of galaxies,' Gloudemans said in a statement. 'It's only because this object is so extreme that we can observe it from Earth, even though it's really far away. This object shows what we can discover by combining the power of multiple telescopes that operate at different wavelengths.' Discovering a large radio jet in the distant universe suggests there are more waiting to be found, Gloudemans said, and the team is planning more observations to better understand the unusual environment around this particular quasar. Some of the biggest remaining questions include what factors lead to the creation of powerful radio jets. 'There are around a thousand quasars known at this epoch and even earlier in the Universe, so even though they are rare, we definitely know quite a few,' Gloudemans said.'The quasars become extremely luminous by friction from gas and dust falling into the supermassive black hole. In the case of this quasar, part of the material has been launched in the form of two jets. We think that these strong radio jets form in roughly 10% of the quasars. Jets have been found even earlier in the Universe, but never of this monster size.' Cosmic radio jets near and far A separate team of astronomers, also using LOFAR, announced last fall the detection of Porphyrion, a gargantuan pair of jets spanning a whopping 23 million light-years — that's 115 times more massive than the newly discovered two-lobed radio jet. But unlike the jet formed by J1601+3102, Porphyrion was found 7.5 billion light-years away from Earth in what's called the 'nearby' universe, rather than the early universe, according to the report published in September. Jets as enormous as Porphyrion would be difficult to detect in the early universe because leftover radiation from the big bang drowns out the radio light released by the jets, Gloudemans said. However, astronomers have long questioned whether long, powerful jets could be spotted in the distant universe because the black holes responsible for them behaved differently in the early universe and were less massive, said Martijn Oei, a postdoctoral scholar in observational astronomy at the California Institute of Technology and the lead author of the September study on Porphyrion. Oei was not involved in the new study. 'What is exciting is that these authors show that quasars at times when they were less massive than they are today could still generate powerful and long jets,' Oei said in an email. 'The Universe was much smaller than it was at Porphyrion's time, so in a relative sense the contrast is less big! This is an impressive find, and shows that black holes affected the Universe with magnetism, heat and cosmic rays beyond the boundaries of their own galaxies already about a billion years after the Big Bang.'
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Largest celestial object of its kind discovered in the distant universe
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Astronomers have spied a monster radio jet in the distant universe that's twice the width of the Milky Way galaxy. The ancient object formed when the universe was less than 10% of its current age of 13.8 billion years, according to a new study. 'This is the largest radio jet seen thus far in the early Universe,' said lead author Anniek Gloudemans, a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab, in an email. Until now, these faraway colossal radio jets released not long after the big bang have been elusive, mostly escaping detection, and how they are created remains an enigma, according to Gloudemans. 'Their absence has previously been attributed to the cosmic microwave background (leftover radiation from 13.8 billion years ago), which diminishes the radio light of such distant objects,' she said. Most giant galaxies have a supermassive black hole at their centers. These central engines possess incredibly strong gravitational fields, gobbling up anything that strays too close. Funneling all that material causes some black holes to unleash an extraordinary amount of energy that scientists believe fuel the formation of a quasar — the brightest known objects in the universe. The luminous cores of distant, ancient galaxies, quasars expel jets of energetic matter. With the help of two powerful radio telescopes, astronomers spotted the gigantic two-lobed jet, which spans at least 200,000 light-years. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, which is 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion kilometers). A study detailing the find was published February 6 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. By using telescopes to peer into the distant universe and study the phenomena observed there, astronomers can essentially see back in time. The discovery of the huge radio jet is providing a window into the early days of the universe, shedding light on when the first jets formed and how they shaped galaxies over time. The quasar that produced the two-lobed radio jet formed when the universe was less than 1.2 billion years old, or 9% of its current age, and it has some oddball traits. Astronomically speaking, the quasar, which weighs 450 million times the mass of our sun, is considered to be smaller than typical quasars, which can reach masses that are billions of times heavier than our star. 'This seems to indicate that you don't necessarily need an exceptionally massive black hole … to generate such powerful jets in the early Universe,' Gloudemans said in a statement. The double-sided jet is also asymmetrical in multiple ways, including the distances it spans away from the quasar, as well as its brightness, 'which seems to indicate that an extreme environment is affecting the lobes,' Gloudemans said. An international team of astronomers first identified the radio jet while using the Low Frequency Array, or LOFAR, Telescope, a network of radio telescopes throughout Europe. Then, the researchers carried out follow-up observations in different wavelengths of light, such as near-infrared using the Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph instrument on the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii as well as visible light with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope in Texas. Together, the different bands of light helped the team piece together details about the large jet and the quasar, named J1601+3102, that produced it. 'We were searching for quasars with strong radio jets in the early Universe, which helps us understand how and when the first jets are formed and how they impact the evolution of galaxies,' Gloudemans said in a statement. 'It's only because this object is so extreme that we can observe it from Earth, even though it's really far away. This object shows what we can discover by combining the power of multiple telescopes that operate at different wavelengths.' Discovering a large radio jet in the distant universe suggests there are more waiting to be found, Gloudemans said, and the team is planning more observations to better understand the unusual environment around this particular quasar. Some of the biggest remaining questions include what factors lead to the creation of powerful radio jets. 'There are around a thousand quasars known at this epoch and even earlier in the Universe, so even though they are rare, we definitely know quite a few,' Gloudemans said.'The quasars become extremely luminous by friction from gas and dust falling into the supermassive black hole. In the case of this quasar, part of the material has been launched in the form of two jets. We think that these strong radio jets form in roughly 10% of the quasars. Jets have been found even earlier in the Universe, but never of this monster size.' A separate team of astronomers, also using LOFAR, announced last fall the detection of Porphyrion, a gargantuan pair of jets spanning a whopping 23 million light-years — that's 115 times more massive than the newly discovered two-lobed radio jet. But unlike the jet formed by J1601+3102, Porphyrion was found 7.5 billion light-years away from Earth in what's called the 'nearby' universe, rather than the early universe, according to the report published in September. Jets as enormous as Porphyrion would be difficult to detect in the early universe because leftover radiation from the big bang drowns out the radio light released by the jets, Gloudemans said. However, astronomers have long questioned whether long, powerful jets could be spotted in the distant universe because the black holes responsible for them behaved differently in the early universe and were less massive, said Martijn Oei, a postdoctoral scholar in observational astronomy at the California Institute of Technology and the lead author of the September study on Porphyrion. Oei was not involved in the new study. 'What is exciting is that these authors show that quasars at times when they were less massive than they are today could still generate powerful and long jets,' Oei said in an email. 'The Universe was much smaller than it was at Porphyrion's time, so in a relative sense the contrast is less big! This is an impressive find, and shows that black holes affected the Universe with magnetism, heat and cosmic rays beyond the boundaries of their own galaxies already about a billion years after the Big Bang.'
CNN
13-02-2025
- Science
- CNN
Astronomers spot an unusual, massive jet of material in the distant universe
Astronomers have spied a monster radio jet in the distant universe that's twice the width of the Milky Way galaxy. The ancient object formed when the universe was less than 10% of its current age of 13.8 billion years, according to a new study. 'This is the largest radio jet seen thus far in the early Universe,' said lead author Anniek Gloudemans, a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab, in an email. Until now, these faraway colossal radio jets released not long after the big bang have been elusive, mostly escaping detection, and how they are created remains an enigma, according to Gloudemans. 'Their absence has previously been attributed to the cosmic microwave background (leftover radiation from 13.8 billion years ago), which diminishes the radio light of such distant objects,' she said. Most giant galaxies have a supermassive black hole at their centers. These central engines possess incredibly strong gravitational fields, gobbling up anything that strays too close. Funneling all that material causes some black holes to unleash an extraordinary amount of energy that scientists believe fuel the formation of a quasar — the brightest known objects in the universe. The luminous cores of distant, ancient galaxies, quasars expel jets of energetic matter. With the help of two powerful radio telescopes, astronomers spotted the gigantic two-lobed jet, which spans at least 200,000 light-years. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, which is 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion kilometers). A study detailing the find was published February 6 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. By using telescopes to peer into the distant universe and study the phenomena observed there, astronomers can essentially see back in time. The discovery of the huge radio jet is providing a window into the early days of the universe, shedding light on when the first jets formed and how they shaped galaxies over time. Finding an ancient radio jet in the early universe The quasar that produced the two-lobed radio jet formed when the universe was less than 1.2 billion years old, or 9% of its current age, and it has some oddball traits. Astronomically speaking, the quasar, which weighs 450 million times the mass of our sun, is considered to be smaller than typical quasars, which can reach masses that are billions of times heavier than our star. 'This seems to indicate that you don't necessarily need an exceptionally massive black hole … to generate such powerful jets in the early Universe,' Gloudemans said in a statement. The double-sided jet is also asymmetrical in multiple ways, including the distances it spans away from the quasar, as well as its brightness, 'which seems to indicate that an extreme environment is affecting the lobes,' Gloudemans said. An international team of astronomers first identified the radio jet while using the Low Frequency Array, or LOFAR, Telescope, a network of radio telescopes throughout Europe. Then, the researchers carried out follow-up observations in different wavelengths of light, such as near-infrared using the Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph instrument on the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii as well as visible light with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope in Texas. Together, the different bands of light helped the team piece together details about the large jet and the quasar, named J1601+3102, that produced it. 'We were searching for quasars with strong radio jets in the early Universe, which helps us understand how and when the first jets are formed and how they impact the evolution of galaxies,' Gloudemans said in a statement. 'It's only because this object is so extreme that we can observe it from Earth, even though it's really far away. This object shows what we can discover by combining the power of multiple telescopes that operate at different wavelengths.' Discovering a large radio jet in the distant universe suggests there are more waiting to be found, Gloudemans said, and the team is planning more observations to better understand the unusual environment around this particular quasar. Some of the biggest remaining questions include what factors lead to the creation of powerful radio jets. 'There are around a thousand quasars known at this epoch and even earlier in the Universe, so even though they are rare, we definitely know quite a few,' Gloudemans said.'The quasars become extremely luminous by friction from gas and dust falling into the supermassive black hole. In the case of this quasar, part of the material has been launched in the form of two jets. We think that these strong radio jets form in roughly 10% of the quasars. Jets have been found even earlier in the Universe, but never of this monster size.' Cosmic radio jets near and far A separate team of astronomers, also using LOFAR, announced last fall the detection of Porphyrion, a gargantuan pair of jets spanning a whopping 23 million light-years — that's 115 times more massive than the newly discovered two-lobed radio jet. But unlike the jet formed by J1601+3102, Porphyrion was found 7.5 billion light-years away from Earth in what's called the 'nearby' universe, rather than the early universe, according to the report published in September. Jets as enormous as Porphyrion would be difficult to detect in the early universe because leftover radiation from the big bang drowns out the radio light released by the jets, Gloudemans said. However, astronomers have long questioned whether long, powerful jets could be spotted in the distant universe because the black holes responsible for them behaved differently in the early universe and were less massive, said Martijn Oei, a postdoctoral scholar in observational astronomy at the California Institute of Technology and the lead author of the September study on Porphyrion. Oei was not involved in the new study. 'What is exciting is that these authors show that quasars at times when they were less massive than they are today could still generate powerful and long jets,' Oei said in an email. 'The Universe was much smaller than it was at Porphyrion's time, so in a relative sense the contrast is less big! This is an impressive find, and shows that black holes affected the Universe with magnetism, heat and cosmic rays beyond the boundaries of their own galaxies already about a billion years after the Big Bang.'
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Astronomers found a monstrous jet powering through the early universe
Scientists have found a quasar spewing a gigantic radio jet in space at a time in the early universe when such objects are nearly impossible to find. Quasars, a portmanteau for "quasi-stellar objects," are blindingly bright galaxy cores. Through powerful telescopes, these distant objects can look like stars, but they're the resulting light from feasting supermassive black holes. The jet, sprawling at least 200,000 light-years, double the span of the Milky Way, emerges from the J1601+3102 quasar, born less than 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang. Though a billion years later may not seem like the early days, that period occurred when the universe was only nine percent of its current age of 13.8 billion — making it a mere toddler. "It's only because this object is so extreme that we can observe it from Earth, even though it's really far away," said Anniek Gloudemans, a research fellow at the federally funded NOIRLab, in a statement. SEE ALSO: Scientists found a colossal black hole near the dawn of time The J1601+3102 quasar's radio jet was first discovered by the Low Frequency Array Telescope. Credit: LOFAR / DECaLS / DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys / LBNL / DOE / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA Finding this radio jet, first discovered by the European Low Frequency Array Telescope, is an enormous achievement. Follow-up observations ensued in near-infrared light with the Gemini North Telescope and in visible light with Hobby Eberly Telescope. A research team has characterized the object in a new paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. These jets become elusive the farther back in time astronomers try to look because of the so-called cosmic microwave background. The ancient radiation, the earliest fossil of light from 380,000 years after the Big Bang, tends to swamp out more subtle signals. Although quasars are technically difficult to find in the early universe, the nearest quasars to Earth are still several hundred million light-years away. That quasars aren't found closer to home is a clue they are ancient relics. Scientists continue to hunt for them because they provide insight into the evolution of galaxies and the universe as a whole. Black holes in general are some of the most inscrutable things in space. Astronomers believe these invisible giants skulk at the center of virtually all galaxies. Falling into one is an automatic death sentence. Any cosmic stuff that wanders too close reaches a point of no return. But scientists have observed something weird at the edge of black holes' accretion disks, the rings of rapidly spinning material around the holes, like the swirl of water around a bathtub drain: A tiny amount of the material can suddenly get rerouted. When this happens, high-energy particles get flung outward as a pair of jets, blasting in opposite directions, though astronomers haven't quite figured out how they work. It's also still a mystery when exactly in cosmic history the universe started making them. Despite this jet's length, it's a pipsqueak compared to others scientists have discovered in later eras. Porphyrion, observed 6.3 billion years after the Big Bang, has a 23 million light-year-long jet. The J1601+3102 quasar is also of modest size, just 450 million times more massive than the sun. Quasars are sometimes known to tip scales at billions of times heavier than the sun. "Interestingly, the quasar powering this massive radio jet does not have an extreme black hole mass compared to other quasars," Gloudemans said. "This seems to indicate that you don't necessarily need an exceptionally massive black hole or accretion rate to generate such powerful jets in the early universe."
