NASA's Chandra finds black hole jet disrupting 'red potato' galaxy
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory just found a supermassive black hole shooting a jet at the "red potato" galaxy, which sits 11.7 billion light-years away.
Even though this galaxy has plenty of cold gas, usually perfect for making new stars, the black hole's jet could be stirring things up and stopping star formation.
The James Webb Space Telescope had already flagged this galaxy, showing us how it looked only around two billion years after the Big Bang.
'Red potato' struck by neighbor jet
The black hole causing all the trouble is actually in another galaxy about 200,000 light-years away, but its jet reaches right into the red potato and shakes up its gas.
Nearby galaxies are busy creating stars, but not this one.
Scientists say these findings help us understand how black holes can shape their neighborhoods and influence how galaxies grow and evolve in the early universe.