A groundbreaking discovery has revealed the presence of a blazar—a supermassive black hole with a jet pointed directly at Earth—at an extraordinary redshift of 7.0. The object, designated VLASS J041009.05−013919.88 (J0410−0139), is the most distant blazar ever identified, providing a rare glimpse into the epoch of reionization when the universe was less than 800 million years old.
For the first time, astronomers using the High Sensitivity Array — a multi-facility network supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory — have observed evidence of magnetic filaments in the accretion disk surrounding a nearby galaxy’s supermassive black hole.
New cooperative work between the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) and SpaceX shows a way to share the radio spectrum between radio astronomers and industry.
An international team of astronomers has demonstrated that persistent radiation in some fast radio bursts originates from a plasma bubble, shedding new light on the enigmatic sources powering these cosmic phenomena.