Astronomers have discovered the largest jet ever seen in the early universe, spanning at least 200,000 light-years, twice the size of the Milky Way. The jet, emanating from a quasar called J1601+3102, formed when the universe was only 9% of its current age. This discovery provides valuable insights into the formation of the first giant jets in the early universe.
Quasars are extremely luminous galactic nuclei powered by supermassive black holes. They emit powerful jets of energetic matter that can be detected by radio telescopes at vast distances. While these jets are relatively common in the nearby universe, they have been much harder to find in the distant and early universe.
The newly discovered jet, identified using the International Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope network, is the largest ever observed in the early universe. Follow-up observations with Gemini North telescope and the Hobby-Eberly Telescope provided a complete picture of the jet and the quasar that produced it.
The quasar J1601+3102, which powers the jet, formed when the universe was less than 1.2 billion years old. While quasars can have masses billions of times greater than our Sun, this one is relatively small, weighing in at 450 million times the mass of the Sun. The double-sided jets are asymmetric in both brightness and the distance they extend from the quasar, suggesting that an external environment may be influencing them.
The previous scarcity of radio jets in the early universe is attributed to the cosmic microwave background radiation, a persistent fog of microwave radiation left over from the Big Bang. This background radiation typically reduces the radio light from such distant objects. However, the extreme size and power of this jet allowed it to be observed from Earth despite its great distance.