See the highest-resolution footage of a black hole jet ever taken, thanks to AI and 27 years of observations
SMRTR summary
Twenty-seven years of stargazing just became something extraordinary. Astronomers have released a stunning animation of a black hole jet so powerful it tears through space at nearly the speed of light, carrying concentrated bursts of X-rays and gamma rays in its wake.
The video was stitched together from 116 images captured between 1995 and 2022, all focused on a blazar called 3C 345, sitting deep in the constellation Hercules. Blazars are a particularly dramatic class of supermassive black holes, actively feeding at the hearts of distant galaxies and firing enormous jets of superheated gas into the cosmos.
What makes this release remarkable is not just the visuals. It's the patience behind them. Nearly three decades of observation, distilled into the highest-definition animation of its kind ever produced, offering a window into one of the most violent and beautiful processes the universe has to offer.
SMRTR provides this summary for quick context. The original article belongs to Live Science.
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