Instabilities … yeah … right.Astronomers capture formation of a powerful cosmic jet
Using a network of radio telescopes on Earth and in space, astronomers have captured the most detailed view ever of a jet of plasma from a supermassive black hole. The jet travels at nearly the speed of light and shows complex, twisted patterns near its source. These patterns challenge the standard theory that has been used for 40 years to explain how these jets form and change over time.
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The new window on the universe opened by the RadioAstron mission has revealed new details in the plasma jet of 3C 279, a blazar with a supermassive black hole at its core. The jet has at least two twisted filaments of plasma extending more than 570 light-years from the center.
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The astronomers studying these twists in 3C 279, called helical filaments, found that they were caused by instabilities developing in the jet plasma.
New theoretical models needed. I'll say.In the process, they also realized that the old theory they had used to explain how the jets changed over time no longer worked.
Hence, new theoretical models are needed that can explain how such helical filaments form and evolve so close to the jet origin. This is a great challenge, but also a great opportunity to learn more about these amazing cosmic phenomena.
What creates helical magnetic fields? Hmmm? Are they *frozen in* ... like they presume all the other magnetic fields they see are?"One particularly intriguing aspect arising from our results is that they suggest the presence of a helical magnetic field that confines the jet," says Guang-Yao Zhao, presently affiliated to the MPIfR and member of the scientists team. "Therefore, it could be the magnetic field, which rotates clockwise around the jet in 3C 279, that directs and guides the jet's plasma moving at a speed of 0.997 times the speed of light."
So the other similar helical jets are the result of the filaments "shearing against each other" … yeah … right."Similar helical filaments were observed in extragalactic jets before, but on much larger scales where they are believed to result from different parts of the flow moving at different speeds and shearing against each other," adds Andrei Lobanov, another MPIfR scientist in the researchers team.
Folks, you don't have to be an astrophysicist to see that mainstream astrophysicists are clueless.