Astronomers Discover the Biggest Radio Jet in the Early Universe

Astronomers discover the biggest radio jet in the early universe, revealing new insights into supermassive black holes, galaxy formation, and cosmic evolution.

Context: Scientists have found the largest radio jet ever seen in the early universe, coming from a quasar.

About Quasars

A quasar (short for “quasi-stellar object”) is an extremely bright and active galaxy with a supermassive black hole at its center.
The black hole is surrounded by a huge disk of gas and dust that gets pulled in by gravity.
As this material falls toward the black hole, it heats up and emits enormous amounts of energy, making quasars some of the brightest objects in the universe.
A single quasar can outshine an entire galaxy with billions of stars. Some quasars are thousands of times brighter than the Milky Way.

Powerful Radio Jets (Sometimes Present)

Some quasars shoot out jets of charged particles moving at nearly the speed of light.
These jets emit radio waves, which scientists can detect with radio telescopes.

What is a Radio Jet?

A radio jet is a stream of high-energy particles shooting out from a supermassive black hole at the centre of a galaxy.
These jets move at nearly the speed of light and can extend across hundreds of thousands of light-years.
They release radio waves, which scientists can detect using radio telescopes.

Why Haven’t We Seen These Jets Before?

Scientists expected that radio jets in the early universe would be hidden by the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), which is leftover radiation from the Big Bang.
This jet is so extreme and bright that it is still visible, even though it’s incredibly far away.