Astronomers have made a surprising discovery of a young quasar jet in a spiral galaxy, challenging the conventional wisdom on quasar formation. The discovery was made using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and reveals that quasars can form in spiral galaxies with supermassive black holes.
According to Olivia Achenbach, who made the discovery during a four-week internship, the most significant surprise was seeing the distinct spiral shape of the galaxy. This contradicts the typical view of quasars forming only in older, massive elliptical galaxies after galaxy mergers.
The quasar, J0742+2704, is thought to reside in a spiral galaxy with a black hole massing 400 million times that of the sun. The discovery of this young quasar jet is rare and exciting, as it suggests alternative pathways for jet formation beyond major galaxy mergers.
Achenbach’s adviser, Kristina Nyland, notes that the quasar’s shape and location may indicate an interaction with another galaxy. The nearby ring galaxy structure could be a sign of a smaller galaxy punching through the center of the spiral galaxy.
The discovery highlights the importance of continued astronomical research and the need to keep searching for unexpected phenomena. With further analysis from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ALMA, more about J0742+2704 will be revealed.
Source: https://earthsky.org/space/spiral-galaxy-hosting-a-quasar-found-by-hubble