Ben Turner is a U.K. based staff writer at Live Science. He covers physics and astronomy, among other topics like tech and climate change. He graduated from University College London with a degree in particle physics before training as a journalist.
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a gigantic"blowtorch-like" jet blasting out of a black hole — and it seems to be causing nearby stars to explode.
"We don't know what's going on, but it's just a very exciting finding," study lead author Alec Lessing, an astrophysicist at Stanford University, said in a NASA statement."This means there's something missing from our understanding of how black hole jets interact with their surroundings." By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.However, how these jets affect their surroundings is largely unknown. By pointing Hubble near the M87 jet, the researchers found that twice as many novas were erupting in star systems near the jet than in the wider galaxy.
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