A black hole jet is aimed at us … and it’s in our galaxy
For the first time, scientists have discovered a microblazar, a black hole system in our own galaxy with a jet pointed at Earth. It lies about 12,000 light-years away. The post A black hole jet is aimed at us … and it’s in our galaxy first appeared on EarthSky .
Scientists have discovered a black hole jet in our own Milky Way galaxy, pointed directly at Earth for the first time. This black hole is part of a system called a microblazar, which has a companion star feeding material into the black hole. The black hole then expels the material in two jets, one of which is aimed toward Earth.
The jet is so powerful that it creates high-energy gamma rays when it hits a nearby molecular cloud. Researchers believe this discovery confirms a 30-year-old theory about microblazars and could help us understand the evolution of galaxies. Further studies will focus on observing the jet's evolution and investigating the interaction between the jet and the molecular cloud.
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