Image courtesy of Jan Röder; Maciek Wielgus et al. (2025)
Joel Kontinen
A galaxy termed M87 at a distanced of 50 million light years
from us has a black hole that spewed out an extremely hot jet of superheated
plasma.
We have studied it for a century, we are only now seeing it
in great detail.
More than a century ago, astronomer Heber Curtis spotted the
first black hole jet – a vast stream of superheated plasma from the
supermassive behemoth that sits at the centre of galaxy
M87. Now, the James Webb Space Telescope has observed this jet in extreme
detail.
Since it was first spotted in 1918, the jet from M87’s black hole – which was famously the first
black hole to be imaged in 2019 – has been observed by a multitude of
telescopes and is arguably the most studied black hole jet. However, many of
its features still elude explanation, such as several bright-shining regions,
as well darker helix-shaped regions. Astronomers think these are likely to be
caused by the jet beam refocusing or different strands recombining as it
encounters new material, such as a denser, gassy region. But the underlying mechanisms remain
mysterious.
Alex Wilkins 2025 Astronomers captured an incredible view of M87’s black hole jet | New Scientist 30 September
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