What's Happening?
Astronomers have captured a stunning image of a plasma jet in the blazar PKS 1424+240, which resembles the mythical 'Eye of Sauron.' This blazar, powered by a supermassive black hole, emits high-energy gamma rays and neutrinos. Despite appearing slow-moving, the jet is one of the brightest sources of these emissions due to its alignment with Earth, which amplifies its brightness through special relativity. The discovery was made using 15 years of radio observations from the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), revealing a near-perfect toroidal magnetic field structure.
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Why It's Important?
This discovery provides crucial insights into the mechanisms of particle acceleration in active galactic nuclei, linking relativistic jets to high-energy neutrinos. Understanding the structure and dynamics of these jets can enhance our knowledge of cosmic accelerators and the role of magnetic fields in shaping them. The findings contribute to multimessenger astronomy, which combines different types of astronomical observations to study cosmic phenomena.
