Astronomers have discovered a massive radio jet twice the width of the Milky Way. According to a new study, this ancient celestial object formed during a time when the universe had not yet reached even 10% of its current age. Anniek Gloudemans, a postdoctoral researcher at the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab, said, "This is the largest radio jet observed so far in the early universe."
Until now, these enormous radio jets, which spread shortly after the Big Bang, had not been detected.
Gloudemans explained that the reason for this might be the cosmic microwave background radiation from 13.8 billion years ago, which dims the radio light from such distant objects.
Supermassive black holes and quasars Most large galaxies have a supermassive black hole at their center. These giant objects attract surrounding matter due to their strong gravitational pull.
This process causes some black holes to emit large amounts of energy, and scientists believe this triggers the formation of quasars. Quasars are known as the brightest objects in the universe and can emit energetic matter jets.
The massive jet, detected using two powerful radio telescopes, is at least 200,000 light-years wide.
One light-year is the distance light travels in one year, roughly equal to 9.46 trillion kilometers. The detailed study of the discovery was published on February 6 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Shedding light on the early universe Astronomers can study the past by observing the farthest points in the universe. This discovery opens an important window to understanding when the first radio jets formed and how they shaped galaxies.
The quasar that creates the two-lobed radio jet occurred when the universe was only 1.2 billion years old.
Although the mass of the quasar is 450 million times that of the Sun, this celestial object is considered smaller compared to typical quasars.
Gloudemans stated, "This shows that such powerful jets in the early universe didn't require an extremely large black hole."
According to observations, both sides of the jet have asymmetrical features. Gloudemans noted that the varying distances and brightness of the jet might be due to extreme conditions in the surrounding area.
Observations at different wavelengths An international team of astronomers first detected the radio jet using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope network in Europe. Then, additional observations were made at different wavelengths using the infrared spectrograph of the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii and the Hobby-Eberly Telescope in Texas.
Scientists combined these observations to create a detailed profile of the quasar, named J1601+3102. Gloudemans said, "We are investigating quasars in the early universe that can emit powerful radio jets. This discovery shows what we can uncover by combining the power of multiple telescopes."
More similar discoveries may follow The discovery of such a large radio jet suggests that there may be more similar objects from the early universe. Researchers plan to conduct further observations to understand the formation mechanism of such jets.
Gloudemans said, "About a thousand quasars have been detected in the early universe. Although rare, we have a significant number of examples." Scientists believe that the supermassive black holes at the center of quasars become extremely bright due to friction between gas and dust. In the case of the J1601+3102 quasar, some of this material is spreading into space as powerful radio jets.
Massive jets in different regions of the universe Last year, another team of astronomers discovered a radio jet called "Porphyrion," which spans 23 million light-years, using the LOFAR telescope. However, Porphyrion is located 7.5 billion light-years away from Earth and is situated in the "near universe," not the early universe.
Scientists believe that the cosmic microwave background radiation from the Big Bang makes it difficult to detect such massive jets from the early universe.
However, the new discovery reveals that these powerful radio jets could have existed in the early universe and showcases the role of black holes in shaping galaxies.
