Why do galaxies emit ghostly jets and why do they appear to dance? The twisted and fluffy jets emanating from the supermassive black holes at the center of the two galaxies at top center and bottom left are unlike any previously observed structure. These extraordinary jets were discovered by the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope during maps created to study the evolution of galaxies. While the images obtained prior to the Evolutionary Map of the Universe survey contained only faint specks, the new data revealed details of these structures. Ultimately, by comparing the relative amounts of energy emitted, it became clear that these long glowing structures were created by electrons moving along magnetic field lines. By overlaying the radio data on an optical image of the sky provided by the Dark Energy Survey, the electron flows were confirmed to originate from the centers of active galaxies. While usually, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) emit smooth and linear jets, one of the strongest hypotheses for these extraordinarily convoluted structures is that wind flows between large-scale galaxies are at work.

September 1, 2021 Astronomy Photo of the Day (NASA APOD)

Image Source: Jayanne English & Ray Norris, EMU-ASKAP, DES