Astronomers observed a relativistic jet in the SDSS J1430+1339 galaxy. In this respect informs Canary Institute of Astrophysics.
When matter enters the accretion disk of a supermassive black hole, some of it can be ejected in the form of relativistic jets. This is what astronomers call a directed stream of material moving at near the speed of light. The jet can blow it off when it collides with galactic gas, and such a matter interaction has been very poorly studied.
Anelise Audiber and her colleagues studied the case of a relativistic jet interacting with cold gas around a large quasar – the SDSS J1430+1339 galaxy 1.3 billion light-years away. Years from us, nicknamed the “Tea Cup” because of its distinctive shape in the English-speaking world. Using the ALMA radio telescope, the researchers characterized the cold gas in the middle of the Cup. In particular, they noted the presence of carbon monoxide (CO), which can exist only under certain conditions of density and temperature. In addition, it was possible to find that a compact jet, despite its low power, not only clearly distorts the distribution of gas and heats it, but also unusually accelerates it. Thus, regions of high temperature and interstellar gas turbulence are oriented perpendicular to the direction of jet motion. In other words, the jet blows a sideways expanding bubble in the gas.
Prior to this study, low-power jets were thought to have little effect on the galaxy. Now scientists have concluded that by heating interstellar gas, they can prevent it from cooling and forming stars.
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