Biggest Cosmic Explosion Ever Seen
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Text, News From The Universe. March 13, 2020
Biggest Cosmic Explosion Ever Seen
Astronomers have discovered evidence of the largest outburst ever observed in the universe.
The suspected source is the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster.
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Multi-wavelength imagery from X-ray and radio telescopes came together to confirm the discovery.
Data came from NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, ESA's XMM-Newton, the Murchison Widefield Array in Australia, and the Giant Meter-wave Radio Telescope in India.
Intense gravity draws matter toward black holes, but they also propel material and energy outward from their edge, called the event horizon.
Artists's rendering of black hole ejecting material.
Text, Matter falling toward a black hole is redirected into jets that blast outward into space and slam into any surrounding material.
The crater the jets have carved in the galaxy cluster's hot gas could contain 15 Milky Way galaxies.
Image shows galaxy cluster with Radio Emission Crate and Crater Edge outlined.
Text, This news was brought to you in part by the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, MA