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Posted on 03/30/2023 8:05:03 AM PDT by BenLurkin
In a distant galaxy, a supermassive black hole spewing radiation at near light speed has shifted its angle by a whopping 90 degrees to point directly toward Earth — a sharp turn that's puzzling physicists.
Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are the hungry black holes at the cores of many other galaxies, and they accrete matter and spew powerful jets of high-energy particles known as relativistic jets. AGN are classified according to what part of the AGN is pointed toward Earth.
The researchers also observed two lobes — areas where an AGN's jets interact with surrounding gas — where some jets had previously made their mark. This blazar's lobes are "very old," however, Hernández-García said, adding that "they are the relics of past activity, whereas the structures located closer to the nucleus represent younger and active jets."
These dormant lobes are evidence that the jets have, in fact, changed direction. It's not totally unprecedented for a galaxy's jets to appear in different places. But in prior examples, there were two sets of lobes, meaning two separate jets turning on and off. For PBC J2333.9-2343, it appears that there is only one source of activity, and it has changed tack.
PBC J2333.9-2343, a large galaxy about 4 million light-years across, was previously classified as a radio galaxy, meaning its AGN's gargantuan jets of radiation were pointed perpendicular to our line of sight. But new research published March 20 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society(opens in new tab) reclassifies the galaxy as a blazar, meaning the black hole's jets are now pointed directly at Earth. This means the galaxy's jets shifted by a "dramatic" degree, the researchers wrote in the study.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
From the article:
“meaning the black hole’s jets are now pointed directly at Earth”
I looked this up:
“PBC J2333.9-2343 is located nearly 657 million lightyears away from Earth”
Whatever they are seeing happened more than 657 million years ago.
For some reason this story reminded me that Sheila Jackson Lee is running for Mayor of Houston.....
“Though at 950 million light years from Earth it will be some time before we need to worry about it. If were still around here in 950 million years.”
You sure about that? If we see the change then it has already been 950 million years “since the change” right?
That event may have already occurred, and the effects thereof haven’t yet reached our galaxy.
When a burst is hence detected, it will already be too late.
BOAKYAG
I knew I shouldn’t have bought that bike . . .
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