Supermassive Black Hole Spins Jet of Plasma Like Monstrous Cosmic Spider

A massive black hole was comparable to a huge cosmic spider based on a high-resolution image captured inside a blazar. The snap also gave astronomers an idea of how the twists or helical filaments were formed.

Supermassive Black Hole Spins Ropes of Plasma Like Cosmic Spider

A network of radio telescopes, including the RadioAstron space telescope, merged to form an Earth-sized antenna that allowed astronomers to see an amazing cosmic sight. This network was specifically trained to monitor the center of the faraway blazar 3C 279.

These studies provide the most in-depth look at an astrophysical jet originating from a supermassive black hole that researchers have ever had, displaying a complicated, twisted pattern close to the jet's source. The 40-year-old hypotheses that have been used to describe how these jets are made and how they change over time may be challenged by the new image. A far-off supermassive black hole is twisting a jet of plasma into a knotted rope and spewing it at close to light speed, like a monstrous cosmic spider.

Galaxies' brilliant centers, or blazars, such as 3C 279, radiate intense light because they are home to a feeding supermassive black hole. The materials that actively feed black holes in the centers of galaxies continuously churn and are positioned around the voids as flattened plates of gas and dust.

These scenarios are collectively known as active galactic nuclei, and those plates are known as "accretion disks." The combined brightness from all the stars in the galaxies around active galactic nuclei is frequently greater than that of the nuclei.

But throughout the entire feeding process, 10% of active galactic nuclei emit astrophysical jets. These are referred to as quasars, and when quasars have jets pointed at Earth, they are called blazars.

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How Black Holes Shape Plasma

According to Eduardo Ros, a team member and the European scheduler of the Global mm-VLBI Array, "This is the first time we have seen such filaments so close to the jet's origin, and they tell us more about how the black hole shapes the plasma." It reportedly demonstrates how various telescopes can expose multiple characteristics of the same item.

The team discovered that the jet is made up of at least two plasma filaments that are twisted and extend over 570 light-years from their source. Observations also revealed that the plasma jets do not travel in a straight line and are not uniform in shape; instead, they exhibit twists and turns from the central black hole's effect.

"plasma" refers to matter's fourth state-solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. A gas so heated that some or all of its atoms are divided into independent-moving electrons and ions is called a plasma. Electromagnetic and electrostatic fields and forces can significantly impact plasmas since they are made up of electrically charged particles. This can result in very complicated and intriguing behavior in plasmas.

The plasma jet's instabilities caused the twists, or helical filaments, which suggests that earlier theories of how these jets grow may need to be changed. Our knowledge of the role magnetic fields play in the initial production of near-light-speed jets from active galactic nuclei may vary due to this research.

According to Guang-Yao Zhao, a member of the team and a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, one especially intriguing aspect of the team's findings is that they reveal the existence of a helical magnetic field that limits the jet. Therefore, the jet's plasma could be directed and guided by the magnetic field, which rotates clockwise around the jet in 3C 279 and moves at 0.997 times the light's speed.