NASA used the Hubble telescope to create a time-lapse video featuring a "slinky" ejecting from a supermassive black hole.
The slinky is actually a "jet of superheated gas,"that stretches for a whopping 5,000 light-years, a Hubble press release reported.
"Central, supermassive black holes are a key component in all big galaxies," Eileen T. Meyer of the Space Telescope Science Institute, said. "Most of these black holes are believed to have gone through an active phase, and black-hole powered jets from this active phase play a key role in the evolution of galaxies. By studying the details of this process in the nearest galaxy with an optical jet, we can hope to learn more about galaxy formation and black hole physics in general."
The black hole is smack in the middle of a galaxy called M87.
Researchers analyzed over 13 years' worth of Hubble data to better-understand how massive black holes affect nearby galaxies.
"We analyzed several years' worth of Hubble data of a relatively nearby spiraling jet of plasma emitted from a black hole, which allowed us to see lots of details," Meyer said. "The only reason you see the distant jet in motion is because it is traveling very fast."
A gas clump in the outer reaches of the M87 jet looks as if is traveling in a spiral. Other gas clumps in the area also appear to be wrapping around an invisible structure.
Meyer believes the spiral motion is created by a "helix-shaped magnetic field" wrapped around the supermassive black hole and the powerful jets.
The Hubble data revealed the peculiar M87 jet is actually made up of a "string of gas blobs." The colorful clouds vary in brightness, and change over time.
"The jet structure is very clumpy. Is this a ballistic effect, like cannonballs fired sequentially from a cannon? Or, are there some particularly interesting physics going on, such as a shock that is magnetically driven?" Meyer asked.
The team found evidence supporting both ideas.
