Cool Your Jets: Cold Eruption from Black Hole is First of Its Kind

The largest black holes are sloppy eaters. But the black hole at the center of galaxy NGC 1377 is an unusual eater because it boasts a surprisingly cool spout. While hot plasma jets from black holes shine brightly at radio wavelengths, lighting up their host galaxies, "NGC 1377 is one of the most radio-faint galaxies known," Susanne Aalto, a professor of radio astronomy at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and lead author on the new research, told Space.com by email.