A black hole been "burping" out a radio jet that is growing exponentially brighter.
Sandeep K S
6 minutes ago
1 min read
"Jetty McJetface: A groundbreaking black hole that continues to emit powerful jets of energy, experiencing a 50-fold increase in brightness since 2019, with projections indicating exponential growth until 2027."
A black hole shredded a star years ago. But instead of fading, it's been "burping" out a radio jet that is growing exponentially brighter.
Normally, when a black hole eats a star (a Tidal Disruption Event), it's a flash in the pan. The star gets shredded, flares up, and fades away.
Using TESS and Swift data, astronomers have detected rare, rhythmic pulses in the chaotic jets of distant galaxies. Blazars are the monsters of the universe: supermassive black holes shooting jets of plasma directly at Earth at nearly the speed of light. They are usually chaotic and unpredictable.
Deep in a gas-rich cosmic web, astronomers found something that shouldn't be there: a massive, dead galaxy shaped like a potato. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a team led by Weichen Wang discovered a massive red galaxy dubbed "Red Potato." It sits in a node of the cosmic web (MQN01) that is overflowing with cool gas—the fuel for stars.