The discovery centers on galaxy VV 340a, where observations revealed vast structures of energized gas stretching up to 20,000 light-years from the galaxy\u2019s center \u2014 far beyond what has ever been seen before. The findings, led by researchers at the University of California, Irvine and the California Institute of Technology\/IPAC, are published in Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n Critical observations from the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI) on the Observatory\u2019s Keck II telescope traced cooler, lower-energy gas extending well outside the galaxy\u2019s disk. This gas forms a striking, spear-like structure aligned with the galaxy\u2019s center, providing a fossil record of prolonged activity driven by the galaxy\u2019s central supermassive black hole.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Keck Observatory data is what allowed us to understand the true scale of this phenomenon,\u201d said lead author Justin Kader, a UC Irvine postdoctoral researcher. \u201cThe gas we see with Keck Observatory reaches the farthest distances from the black hole, which means it also traces the longest timescales. Without these observations, we wouldn\u2019t know how powerful \u2014 or how persistent \u2014 this outflow really is.\u201d<\/p>\n The data obtained from KCWI were essential for modeling how much material is being expelled and determining whether the outflow is capable of altering the galaxy\u2019s future. The answer, the team found, is yes.<\/p>\n A Jet with Enough Power to Halt Star Formation<\/strong><\/p>\n The team combined Keck Observatory\u2019s optical data with infrared observations from NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope and radio images from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to build a complete picture of the system.<\/p>\n At the galaxy\u2019s center, Webb detected intensely energized \u201ccoronal\u201d gas, plasma heated to extreme temperatures, erupting from either side of the black hole. While such gas is typically confined to regions just hundreds of parsecs across, in VV 340a it stretches for several thousands of parsecs, making it the most extended coronal gas structure ever observed.<\/p>\n The VLA radio data revealed that a pair of plasma jets, launched by the black hole, twist into a helical, S-shaped pattern as they move outward \u2014 evidence of a rare phenomenon known as jet precession, in which the jet\u2019s direction slowly wobbles over time.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first time we\u2019ve seen a precessing, kiloparsec-scale radio jet driving such a massive outflow in a disk galaxy,\u201d Kader said.<\/p>\n While Webb\u2019s infrared vision revealed the energetic heart of the system, Keck Observatory\u2019s observations showed how that energy propagates outward, coupling with the surrounding galaxy and dragging gas along in its wake.<\/p>\n The KCWI data demonstrates that as the jet slows, it entrains cooler material, pushing it outward at lower speeds. This process strips the galaxy of gas at a rate equivalent to forming nearly 20 suns every year, dramatically suppressing future star formation.<\/p>\n A Surprise in an Unexpected Galaxy<\/strong><\/p>\n Perhaps most surprising is where this activity is happening. Powerful, precessing jets are usually found in old, elliptical galaxies which have stopped star formation, not in relatively young, star-forming spiral galaxies like VV 340a, which is still in the early stages of a merger with another galaxy.<\/p>\n The discovery challenges long-standing ideas about how galaxies and their central black holes evolve together and raises the possibility that similar events could occur in galaxies like our own Milky Way.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no clear fossil record of something like this happening in our galaxy, but this discovery suggests we can\u2019t rule it out,\u201d Kader said. \u201cIt changes the way we think about the galaxy we live in.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking Ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n The team plans to pursue deeper, higher-resolution radio observations to determine whether a second supermassive black hole may be causing the jet\u2019s wobble, a potential first step toward identifying a binary black hole system.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re only beginning to understand how common this kind of activity may be,\u201d Vivian U, an associate scientist at Caltech\/IPAC and the second and senior author of the study, said. \u201cWith Keck Observatory and these other powerful observatories working together, we\u2019re opening a new window into how galaxies change over time.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Links:<\/p>\n ABOUT KCWI<\/strong> ABOUT W. M. KECK OBSERVATORY<\/strong>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/VV340A_Final_1500x_web-1024x576.jpg\")
This artist\u2019s rendering illustrates a precessing jet erupting from the supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy VV 340a. Optical observations from the W. M. Keck Observatory revealed extended, cooler gas pushed outward over thousands of light-years, while infrared data from NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope captured the super-heated coronal gas near the galaxy\u2019s core. Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory \/ Adam Makarenko<\/p>\n
The Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI) is designed to provide visible band, integral field spectroscopy with moderate to high spectral resolution formats and excellent sky-subtraction. The astronomical seeing and large aperture of the telescope enables studies of the connection between galaxies and the gas in their dark matter halos, stellar relics, star clusters, and lensed galaxies.\u00a0KCWI covers the blue side of the visible spectrum; the instrument also features the Keck Cosmic Reionization Mapper (KCRM), extending KCWI\u2019s coverage to the red side of the visible spectrum. The combination of KCWI-blue and KCRM provides simultaneous high-efficiency spectral coverage across the entire visible spectrum. Support for KCWI was provided by the National Science Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, and Mt. Cuba Astronomical Foundation. Support for KCRM was provided by the National Science Foundation and Mt. Cuba Astronomical Foundation.<\/p>\n
The W. M. Keck Observatory telescopes are among the most scientifically productive on Earth. The two 10-meter optical\/infrared telescopes atop Maunakea on the Island of Hawai\u02bbi feature a suite of advanced instruments including imagers, multi-object spectrographs, high-resolution spectrographs, integral-field spectrometers, and world-leading laser guide star adaptive optics systems.\u00a0Some of the data presented herein were obtained at Keck Observatory, which is a private 501(c) 3 non-profit organization operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Maunakea has always had within the Native Hawaiian community.\u00a0We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain. For more information, visit: www.keckobservatory.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rare, powerful jet strips star-forming gas from its host, offering new insight into how galaxies evolve Maunakea, Hawai\u02bbi…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[18,19,17,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-275488","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-science"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115863748971885617","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}