A massive jet 200,000 light-years wide from the primitive universe.

Astronomers have made an astonishing discovery in the ancient universe by locating a radio jet that stretches across 200,000 light-years. This phenomenon dates back to a time when the universe was less than 10% of its current age, which is approximately 13.8 billion years. Using the Gemini North and Hubble telescopes, researchers are analyzing this jet, known as J1601+3102, to understand how supermassive black holes produce large amounts of energy and how they formed during the early stages of the universe.

The jet features two lobes that emanate from a central point, encompassing a size that is double that of our galaxy. This structure makes it the largest radio jet observed so far in the primitive universe. At its core lies a quasar, which is the bright center of a galaxy that harbors a massive black hole. Anniek Gloudemans, the lead researcher from NOIRLab, mentioned that the team was searching for quasars with powerful radio jets in the early universe, which will allow them to better understand the origin and impact of these jets on galactic evolution.

It was determined that the jet formed when the universe was less than 1.2 billion years old, which is remarkable considering its size and extent. Despite the expectation that a large black hole would produce an equally large jet, in this case, the black hole feeding the quasar is not extremely massive compared to other quasars. Gloudemans highlighted that this suggests that an extremely massive black hole or a high accretion rate is not always required to generate such powerful jets in the early universe.

Researchers continue to investigate why this relatively small black hole was able to create such an enormous jet and why other similar black holes do not produce comparable jets. Since the observation of large jets in the early universe is rare, the team plans to seek more information about the formation of the first jets. Although this jet is colossal, it is located at a great distance, which forced scientists to combine data from ground-based and space telescopes for their study. Gloudemans noted that the extreme nature of this object makes it easier to observe from Earth, underscoring the value of collaboration between telescopes operating at different wavelengths.

The related research has been published in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters.