Wobbling Black Hole Jet Spans a Galaxy in VV340a, Astronomers Report

Astronomers report a precessing black hole jet extending about 20,000 light-years in the disk galaxy VV340a, based on Keck, JWST and VLA observations; the structure appears to strip gas and may suppress star formation.

Astronomers report a large, wobbling jet driven by a supermassive black hole in the nearby disk galaxy VV340a, based on coordinated observations with the Keck Observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Very Large Array. The team presented their results in Science and at the American Astronomical Society meeting. The data show extended coronal gas, optical outflows and radio jets that are twisted into a helical pattern. These features are discussed because they suggest the black hole can affect the galaxy well beyond its core. Key observations: - The Keck Cosmic Web Imager detected an optical outflow aligned with the galactic nucleus and traced gas reaching up to about 20,000 light-years from the center. - JWST infrared data revealed unusually extended coronal gas spanning several thousand parsecs, larger than most previously observed coronae. - VLA radio images show a pair of plasma jets twisted into a helical pattern, reported as evidence of jet precession (a slow wobble in the jet direction). - Keck data were used to estimate that the outflow is removing gas at roughly 20 solar masses per year, a rate the team reports could reduce star formation. - The jets were observed in VV340a, a disk galaxy in an early-stage merger, rather than in an older elliptical galaxy where such jets are more commonly seen. Summary: The reported observations combine optical, infrared and radio measurements to map a precessing, kiloparsec-scale jet and its effects across a disk galaxy. The findings are presented as challenging some expectations about where powerful jets appear and how they influence galaxy evolution. The team plans higher-resolution radio observations to check whether a second supermassive black hole could explain the wobble and to better understand how common this activity is.