A "supermassive" black hole is sending out a powerful jet of particles and magnetic radiation that is likely obliterating any possible life in its broad path in a nearby galaxy, astronomers said.
They said the two galaxies appear to be merging and the disturbance in the magnetic field caused by this movement may have awakened a dormant, supermassive black hole in one of the galaxies.
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| This composite photo provided by NASA shows
a powerful jet from a supermassive black hole is blasting a nearby galaxy. |
They have images of the deadly blast, spurting out from a system known as 3C321.
Data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory show both galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centres, and 3C321, the larger galaxy, is emitting this stream of energy and particles.
The unnamed smaller galaxy apparently has swung into the path of this jet.
The astronomers agree that both galaxies are likely to have planetary systems but nothing resembling life on any planet could survive the blast.
Although other such jets have been seen before, this is the first time one has been observed battering another galaxy, the researchers report in The Astrophysical Journal.
"It's like a bully, a black hole bully, punching the nose of any passing galaxy," Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, said.
There is no need to worry about this death ray hitting Earth - the galaxies are 1.4 billion light years away - a light year being the distance light travels in a year, or about
six trillion miles.