Astronomers have witnessed a black hole ejecting plasma that stretches for an entire light year for the first time (photo).

Astronomers have for the first time observed the moment when a supermassive black hole at the center of a distant galaxy ejects a plasma jet measuring 1 light-year in length, traveling at one-third the speed of light. Technically, this structure consists of two jets, each approximately 0.5 light-years wide. The study was published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, as reported by Space.

Astronomers first became interested in the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy 1ES 1927+654 back in 2018. At that time, they noticed the environment around the black hole became extremely bright in visible, ultraviolet, and X-ray light. This was believed to be linked to the emergence of a relativistic jet from the black hole. Following this, the black hole remained inactive for an extended period, but last year, astronomers were able to observe the birth of such a jet in real-time using ground-based radio telescopes. They presented their findings in a recent study.

Scientists observed the formation of a structure consisting of two jets from the black hole, each about 0.5 light-years wide, with the overall length of the structure being 1 light-year.

The supermassive black hole that released two jets of matter into space has a mass 1.4 billion times that of the Sun. Its home galaxy, 1ES 1927+654, which hosts the black hole, is located approximately 270 million light-years away from us.

Astronomers are well acquainted with relativistic jets from black holes that emerge from their poles at nearly the speed of light. These jets can reach lengths of up to 23 million light-years. Such structures are common among supermassive black holes that actively consume surrounding matter. Some of the matter that does not fall into the black hole moves toward its poles.

At these poles, powerful magnetic fields accelerate particles until they are expelled into space as powerful jets. Although astronomers have previously observed many of these relativistic jets, they have never seen one erupting in real-time before. Scientists believe the eruption began earlier but was obscured by hot gas that later dispersed.

This discovery could help astronomers gain a better understanding of how powerful jets from supermassive black holes initially develop.