S. Dagnello (NRAO/AUI/NSF)
A supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy launched a powerful jet of matter away from it—and astronomers caught it on camera.
Specifically, researchers spotted the jet being launched from the black hole at the center of the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy (i.e. the first black hole to ever be photographed) in 2018 using the Global Millimetre VLBI Array (GMVA), the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), and the Greenland Telescope. Check it out in all its epic glory below:
Don’t let the blurriness fool you. The pic actually shows a massive and powerful jet of energy and matter being shot out at nearly the speed of light from the supermassive black hole. These jets, also known as tidal disruption events (TDEs), occur after black holes consume celestial objects like stars and planets.
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