Galaxy

Astronomers Find Rare ‘Triple-Double’ Radio Galaxy 7.5 Billion Light-Years Away

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A Rare Triple Double R

Astronomers have revealed a rare triple-double radio galaxy 7.5 billion light-years from Earth. Known as J022248−060934, this mysterious system sheds new light on the behavior of supermassive black holes. With only six other clusters of its kind previously known, this discovery pushes the boundaries of our understanding of cosmic phenomena and could pave the way … Read more

Black Hole Runs Out of Gas, Rapidly Shrinking Its Galaxy

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Hubble Space Telescope view of the galaxy Markarian 509 with its bright AGN at its heart. In addition to J0218-0036, other galaxies have these objects, too. Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Kriss (STScI) and J. de Plaa (SRON)

It is not often that astronomers can see large changes in the brightness of a galaxy within a few years. Most galaxies change in brightness (and other properties) over millions or billions of years. So, when images of the distant 10-billion-light-year galaxy J0218-0036 showed that it dimmed to a twentieth of its previous brightness in … Read more