Telescopes spy a monster radio jet streaming from a bright and early object in the universe

This image provided by NSF’s NOIRLab shows an artist’s illustration of the largest radio jet ever found in the early Universe. (M. Garlick/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA via AP)

By MARCIA DUNN
Updated 12:42 PM CST, February 6, 2025

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Telescopes around the world have spotted a monster radio jet streaming from a quasar dating back to the first 1 billion years of the universe.

At double the width of our Milky Way galaxy, this jet of radio waves is the biggest ever detected so early in the history of the universe, astronomers reported Thursday.

Radio jets like this are not uncommon in our cosmic neighborhood. But they’ve been elusive in the distant early universe — until now — because of the obscuring cosmic microwave background left over from the Big Bang.

“It’s only because this object is so extreme that we can observe it from Earth, even though it’s really far away,” lead author Anniek Gloudemans of the National Science Foundation’s NoirLab said in a statement.

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