A century after astronomers first spotted the colossal jet blasting from the black hole at the heart of the galaxy M87, a new look has brought it into startling focus.
Using infrared observations, researchers have traced bright knots and dark, helical lanes in unprecedented detail and, crucially, picked out the jet’s elusive counterpart on the far side of the black hole.
The research team, led by Maciek Wielgus at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, reanalyzed data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to map the jet structure and the much dimmer counter-jet that shoots away from us.
The analysis offers fresh clues about how these cosmic beams are shaped as they plow through surrounding gas.
Century-old M87 jet mystery
Heber Curtis first noticed the M87 jet in 1918…more
Source www.earth.com
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