The team analysed radio images from the International LOFAR Telescope to study black hole energy flows on the megaparsec scale, and through this process, they identified the jets which they have named Porphyrion, after a giant in Greek Mythology.
The jumbo jets blast hot plasma well beyond their own host galaxy with the power equivalent to a trillion suns, and researchers think the megastructure dates to a time when our universe was 6.3 billion years old – less than half its current age. The finding suggests that these giant jet systems may have had a larger influence on the formation of galaxies in the young universe than previously believed, according to the team.
