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January 30, 2026<\/p>\n
1 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 3,000-light-year-long jet offers new clues to first black hole ever imaged<\/p>\n Astronomers have traced the origin point of a jet of material that is thousands of light-years long emanating from the supermassive black hole M87*<\/p>\n By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron<\/span><\/p>\n The galaxy Messier 87 (M87) and a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma blasting from its central black hole.<\/p>\n NASA\/ESA\/STScI\/Alec Lessing\/Stanford University\/Michael Shara\/AMNH (image); Edward Baltz\/Stanford University (acknowledgment); Joseph DePasquale\/STScI (image processing)<\/p>\n Located at the center of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87), the supermassive black hole M87* holds a special place in the science history books: it\u2019s the first black hole ever imaged and is the origin of what NASA has called \u201cone of nature\u2019s most amazing phenomena.\u201d That\u2019s because the black hole is spewing out a gigantic jet of material that is blazing a 3,000-light-year-long trail through the cosmos.<\/p>\n M87* is both a messy and greedy eater: as dust and gas falls toward it, the black hole shoots out powerful jets of charged particles. But astronomers didn\u2019t exactly know where these jets originated\u2014until now. In new research published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, scientists lay out evidence of what they believe are the \u201cfirst hints\u201d of M87*\u2019s jet base.<\/p>\n Using observations from the Event Horizon Telescope, the team examined the glowing ring of superhot material around M87* and identified what they believe is the \u201cprobable position\u201d of the extremely long jet\u2019s origin.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n The first image of the black hole at the center of the galaxy M87. The image was released April 2019.<\/p>\n Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration<\/p>\n The results could inform future studies of M87*\u2019s superlative jet and the mechanics of similar supermassive black holes.<\/p>\n \u201cThis study represents an early step toward connecting theoretical ideas about jet launching with direct observations,\u201d said the paper\u2019s lead author Saurabh, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cIdentifying where the jet may originate and how it connects to the black hole\u2019s shadow, adds a key piece to the puzzle and points toward a better understanding of how the central engine operates,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. 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I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" January 30, 2026 1 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm 3,000-light-year-long jet offers new clues to first black hole ever imaged Astronomers have traced the origin point of a jet of material that is thousands of light-years long emanating from the supermassive black hole M87* By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[22655,706,9639,4125,22656,894,2276],"class_list":{"0":"post-43263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-3000lightyearlong","9":"tag-black","10":"tag-clues","11":"tag-hole","12":"tag-imaged","13":"tag-jet","14":"tag-offers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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