An article published in the journal “The Astrophysical Journal” reports the results of X-ray observations of the jets emitted by the supermassive black hole at the center of the Centaurus A galaxy.

A team of researchers used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to find a V-shaped structure that indicates that one of the jets hit something whose nature is uncertain. Only Chandra’s X-ray observations revealed that unusual structure, cataloged as C4, while many other instruments, especially radio telescopes, had never shown such anomalies.

The Centaurus A radio galaxy is one of the first radio sources identified outside the Milky Way in 1949, and for this reason, it’s one of the most studied, especially in the radio band. The supermassive black hole at its center is surrounded by gas and dust and some of it isn’t swallowed but is ejected in jets that reach speeds close to the speed of light.

This study shows how valuable observations are in different bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. In the case of the Centaurus A galaxy, there are structures visible only in the radio band and now possible structures visible only in X-rays have been reported, in particular, the one cataloged as C4. Follow-up observations could provide new information on the nature of C4 useful for understanding the consequences even thousands of light-years away of a supermassive black hole’s activity.