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Hubble Reveals Surprising Spiral Shape of Galaxy Hosting Young Jet

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January 13, 2025 10:15AM (EST)Release ID: 2025-004
Field of yellow galaxies of various sizes and distances on a black background. Two larger galaxies are prominent. Centered is a galaxy with a bright core and faint spiral arms coming off its top and bottom. To the lower right of the spiral is a ring galaxy with an apparent gap between its bright core and the ring oval of dust and gas surrounding it.

Summary

Astronomers are now rethinking the underlying trigger of quasar jets.

Following up on the groundbreaking 2020 discovery of newborn jets in a number of quasars, the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed one of the quasar host galaxies to have a spiral shape, defying expectations. It has been thought that quasar jets are triggered by galaxy mergers, but an intact spiral, unperturbed by merger, contradicts this and opens up new questions as to what may have set off the jets.

Full Article

The night sky has always played a crucial role in navigation, from early ocean crossings to modern GPS. Besides stars, the United States Navy uses quasars as beacons. Quasars are distant galaxies with supermassive black holes, surrounded by brilliantly hot disks of swirling gas that can blast off jets of material. Following up on the groundbreaking 2020 discovery of newborn jets in a number of quasars, aspiring naval officer Olivia Achenbach of the United States Naval Academy has used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to reveal surprising properties of one of them, quasar J0742+2704. "The ...

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News releases highlighting the discoveries of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope are produced for NASA by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, under NASA Contract NAS5-26555. News release content is developed by the News Team in STScI’s Office of Public Outreach.

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