Astronomers have discovered remarkably powerful X -ray jets emanating from two supermassive black holes which are so ancient that they shine in the remanence of Big Bang.
“They transform the first light in the universe into high energy jets,” said Jaya Maithil, a postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard and the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. She spoke to journalists on June 9 during the 246th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Anchorage, Alaska, reported Space.com.
Using data from the Chandra X -ray -ray -ray observatory and the Karl G Jansky very large (VLA) range, Maithil and his team found that each jet extends over 300,000 light years – almost three times the diameter of our galaxy of the Milky Way. Each jet comes from a supermassive black hole powerful, known as Quasar, located about 11.6 billion and 11.7 billion light years.
The researchers observed these enormous structures as they existed when the universe was only 3 billion years, at a time when galaxies and their central black holes increased at a rapid rate.
“These quasars are like cosmic time capsules,” said Maithil. “If we understand them, we can understand how they have an impact on the growth of their galaxy and the environment in which they resided.”
One of the newly discovered jets, from an designated Quasar J1610 + 1811, is visible in the image of Chandra accompaniment. A thin and light purple line extends from the shiny white core from the quasar to the top right, ending with a small brilliant drop. A second, Dimmer Jet seems to be pulling in the opposite direction, down and left.
“It’s like looking for candles nearby near a flashlight that has tough towards us,” said Maithil.
What makes these jets particularly remarkable is their visibility on billions of light years. In an article accepted for publication in the astrophysical newspaper, Maithil and his team suggested that the jets emit X -rays because of the interactions with the cosmic microwave (CMB) – the low relic radiation of the Big Bang which remains after the universe has cooled sufficiently for the starry light to move freely, marking the end of the “dark cosmic angels”.
