Astronomers capture most powerful explosion since big bang

[SPCTRE]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-...sion-since-big-bang-black-hole-galaxy/6879040

Shown in pink are vast cavities each over 600,000 light-years in diameter, blasted out by powerful supersonic jets from the gargantuan galaxy at the very heart of this image.

These cavities have displaced a trillion suns' worth of mass and have been filled with magnetised, extremely high-energy electrons emitting radio waves, which were detected by the Very Large Array radio telescope.

What's more, the explosion is ongoing and has been continuing for the last 100 million years, releasing as much energy as hundreds of millions of gamma ray bursts.

The blast is generated by the largest black hole in the known universe, a gravitational monster over 10 billion times the mass of our Sun.

Astronomers calculate this behemoth has consumed almost 600 million times the mass of the Sun in order to generate such a powerful explosion.

[...]

Galaxy cluster MS 0735.6+7421 is located 2.6 billion light-years away in the constellation Camelopardalis, the Giraffe.

Mind thoroughly boggled.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Probably lethal to nearby life, yet it's so purty.

 

[RoJoHen]

These are the kinds of things that make me realize I will never have a good grasp on the science of the universe.

10 BILLION times the mass of the sun?! These are numbers that I can't even conceive.

 

[StarCruiser]

Probably lethal to nearby life, yet it's so purty.

Don't go into the light!

I can't help it, it's so beautiful...