Supermassive Black Hole A Star

Author notes

Ep. 40, Page 32

smbhax

on April 7, 2020

The Event Horizon Telescope collaboration has released an image showing the beginning point of a supermassive black hole's relativistic jet—those often light-years-long, near-light-speed blasts of plasma thrown off the magnetic poles of a large, rotating black hole.

The image, along with earlier, less detailed images, taken from a distant quasar, shows that this jet twists, and may have "perpendicular" features: "The unexpected geometry suggests the presence of traveling shocks or instabilities in a bent, rotating jet, which might also explain emission at high energies such as gamma-rays."

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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )