Key Takeaways
- A jet of energy was detected from a supermassive black hole 12.4 billion light years away.
- The jet, from a tidal disruption event (TDE), traveled at nearly the speed of light toward Earth.
- The light from this event, called AT2022cmc, took 8.5 billion years to reach Earth.
- The black hole likely had a fast spin, helping generate the powerful jet.
- Future observatories may reveal more TDEs, enhancing our understanding of these cosmic phenomena.
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Astronomers have found a supermassive black hole ejecting a jet of energy at nearly the speed of light. This event, called AT2022cmc, is the most distant tidal disruption event (TDE) ever recorded, taking place 12.4 billion light years away from Earth. The international team of researchers shared their findings in papers published on November 30 in Nature and Nature Astronomy, noting that this TDE was observable due to the intense brightness of its jet and the direction it pointed—right toward Earth.
Igon Andreoni, an astronomer at the University of Maryland and co-leader of the study, emphasized how unusual it is to witness such a jet, as it must be aimed almost directly at Earth for detection. The light from AT2022cmc reached Earth after traveling across space for approximately 8.5 billion years, implying that this event happened when the universe was just a third of its current age.
Insights Into Black Hole Behavior
The observation has led researchers to propose that the black hole involved was spinning at a high rate, which likely contributed to the formation of the jet. Despite its classification as “supermassive,” this black hole’s mass, estimated at a few hundred million times that of the Sun, is typical for black holes at the centers of galaxies.
AT2022cmc’s extreme brightness suggests that something unique happened during the star’s spaghettification—a process in which a star is stretched and torn apart by a black hole’s gravity. This interaction, researchers believe, led to the remarkable jet that was bright enough to be seen using optical telescopes on Earth.
The event’s observation has provided valuable insights into the formation and characteristics of supermassive black holes, as well as conditions in the early universe. The researchers are hopeful that future technologies, such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory currently under construction in Chile, will aid in finding more of these rare events. This telescope will be capable of scanning the entire sky every few nights, potentially uncovering more jetted TDEs.
Andreoni and his team believe that identifying more such events will allow scientists to deepen their understanding of the most extreme phenomena in the universe. With more data, researchers can investigate how these jets form, their frequency, and their impact on surrounding cosmic structures.
