A remarkable black hole jet has been discovered by astronomers, emanating from two ancient supermassive black holes that are illuminated by the afterglow of the Big Bang.

Jaya Maithil, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, revealed the findings at the 246th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Anchorage, Alaska. The X-ray jets, powered by supermassive black holes, shine brightly in the aftermath of the Big Bang, transforming the early light of the universe into high-energy jets.

The jets, observed by NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), are enormous, spanning 300,000 light-years each, almost three times the size of the Milky Way galaxy. These jets originate from quasars, actively feeding supermassive black holes located approximately 11.6 billion and 11.7 billion light-years away.

During a time when galaxies and their central black holes were rapidly growing, these structures were seen when the universe was just 3 billion years old. According to Maithil, these quasars serve as cosmic time capsules, offering insights into the growth of galaxies and their surrounding environment.

One of the newly discovered jets, from a quasar named J1610+1811, is visible in the Chandra image, appearing as a slender purple line extending from the white core of the quasar. Another fainter jet is observed shooting in the opposite direction.

What sets these jets apart is their visibility across billions of light-years. The researchers suggest that the jets emit X-rays due to interactions with the cosmic microwave background (CMB) - the residual radiation from the Big Bang. This interaction boosts low-energy photons from the CMB into the X-ray range, making the jets detectable by Chandra.

The study, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, reveals that the jet from J1610+1811 carries energy equivalent to that of 10 trillion suns. Similarly, the jet from J1405+0415, located 11.7 billion light-years away, showcases particles traveling at 95% to 99% of the speed of light.

Maithil emphasizes that these findings suggest black holes may have a more significant impact on the universe's early stages than previously thought.