Research Gallery

An international team of researchers has imaged newly forming jets of plasma from a massive black hole in NGC 1275 (3C 84) with unprecedented accuracy. Radio images made with a combination of telescopes in space (RadioAstron) and on the ground resolve the jet structure merely a couple of hundred black hole radii or 12 light days from its launching site. The obtained image (left) transversely resolves the edge-brightened jet in 3C 84 only 30 microarcsec from the core, which is ten times closer to the central engine than what has been possible in previous ground-based observations, and it allows us to measure the jet collimation profile from ∼ 10^2 to ∼ 10^4 gravitational radii (r_g) from the black hole. The previously found, almost cylindrical jet profile on scales larger than a few thousand r_g is now seen to continue at least down to a few hundred r_g from the black hole and we find a broad jet with a transverse radius of & 250 r_g at only 350 r_g from the core (right). The jet in NGC 1275 was re-started just over a decade ago and is currently still forming, which provides a unique opportunity to follow the very early growth of a black hole jet. Continuing these observations will be very important to conclude the final shape of this young AGN jet.