Newborn jets in distant galaxies

Astronomers using data from the ongoing VLA Sky Survey (VLASS) have found a number of distant galaxies with supermassive black holes at their cores that have launched powerful, radio-emitting jets of material within the past two decades or so.

The scientists compared data from VLASS with data from an earlier survey that also used the National Science Foundation's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to reach their conclusion.

"We found galaxies that showed no evidence of jets before but now show clear indications of having young, compact jets," said Dr. Kristina Nyland, who is an NRC postdoctoral fellow in residence at the Naval Research Laboratory.

VLASS is a project that will survey the sky visible from the VLA—about 80 percent of the entire sky—three times over seven years.

Continued...
Source

Credit: Sophia Dagnello, NRAO/AUI/NSF

Artist's conception of a galaxy with an active nucleus propelling jets of material outward from the galaxy's center.

Source / Image Courtesy

Credit: Nyland et al.; Sophia Dagnello, NRAO/AUI/NSF.

VLA images of three galaxies in the new study, comparing what was seen in the earlier FIRST survey and the later VLASS.

The newly-appearing bright radio emission indicates that the galaxies launched new jets of material sometime between the dates of the two observations.

Source / Image Courtesy

Hubble Spys Supersonic Jets From Newborn Stars

Newborn stars firing out jets of matter, from images captured over time by Hubble scientists have created fascinating movie sequences showing their progress out into space.

These jets may cast new light on how the Sun formed 4.5 billion years ago.