A black hole at the center of a faraway galaxy, roughly 1 billion light-years away from Earth, is blasting a nearby galaxy with a near-light-speed jet of plasma.
The one-of-a-kind black hole resides in the galaxy RAD12, and its plasma outflow is assaulting the nearby galaxy RAD12-B. This is the first time a jet has been observed emanating from the core of one galaxy and colliding with another big galaxy.
Black Hole Spewing a Fiery Jet at Another Galaxy, Depleting Fuel Needed for Star Formation
Sixth Pair of Galaxy Observed to Engage in a Plasma-Blasting Activity
Ananda Hota, an astronomer from the University of Bombay in India, and her team discovered the black hole during observations. As per Science Alert, this is the sixth time a galaxy pair has been discovered participating in this type of plasma-blasting behavior. Yet, the RAD12 system is peculiar for various reasons astronomers do not understand.
This Extremely Weird Galaxy Is Blasting Plasma at Its Friend https://t.co/cvp4jZgDSy
— ScienceAlert (@ScienceAlert) March 20, 2023
First of all, it was the first time the team witnessed a galaxy fire a plasma jet at a galaxy larger than itself. Another issue is that there is just one jet. The team said they have witnessed many galaxies launch plasma jets into space, and these jets usually arrive in pairs. It is unclear why RAD12 only has one.
High-speed plasma jets generating radio wavelength radiation are rather prevalent in the Universe. Radio galaxies produce jets, which are emitted by the galactic nucleus. Astronomers believe the supermassive black hole at the heart of the galaxy is to blame.
Massive amounts of material typically surround galactic supermassive black holes, swirling about in a disk and falling into the black hole from the disk's inner rim. However, this accretion process is untidy, as not all of the material from the disk's inner edge is beyond the event horizon.
Part of it is redirected and accelerated along the magnetic field lines that circle the black hole's rim. It is whisked away to the black hole's poles and hurled into space at speeds close to the speed of light in a vacuum, punching huge distances through the intergalactic medium as a synchrotron, accelerating electrons that eventually generate radio waves.
Plasma-Blasting Activity Common in Elliptical Galaxies
There is still a lot that remains unknown about the plasma-blasting activity, but it is most common in elliptical galaxies, which are fuzzy, formless blobs as compared to highly structured spiral galaxies.
Elliptical galaxies don't have a lot of star formation going on since most of their stars are old, and they don't have as much star-forming material. It is assumed that the jets play a part in giving "feedback" that prevents star formation.
According to Science Daily, star formation in elliptical galaxies is very rare, and scientists are still baffled why these galaxies have not produced new stars for billions of years. Research shows that supermassive black holes are to blame because of their jets of plasma that diminishes the fuel needed for future star formation, such as cold gas and dust.
RAD12 is unlike anything previously witnessed. This is the first time a jet has been detected colliding with a huge galaxy such as RAD12-B, helping astronomers to understand the consequences of such interactions on elliptical galaxies.
Their findings were published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society last year.
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