Scientists Observe Largest Explosion In Space

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<b>Scientists Observe Largest Explosion In Space</b><br /><br />LINK<br /><br />Scientists have observed the largest explosion in space, a finding that suggests that supermassive black holes – which produced the blast – are a bigger force to be reckoned with in the universe than previously thought. <br /><br />The study, published in this week's issue of the journal Nature, details the discovery of enormous cavities – each about 650,000 light years across – surrounded by hot gas in a distant cluster of galaxies. The two cavities, created by an outburst from a supermassive black hole, could explain why some galaxies don't create new stars as they cool down in temperature – the typical recipe for star formation, said Brian McNamara, an Ohio University astronomer who is lead author on the research. <br /><br />NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory detected the explosion, which isn't visually spectacular but is massive and very powerful, "like a nuclear blast without the light," he said. While the astronomer previously has spotted and studied these cosmic bubbles of hot gas elsewhere in the universe, "what literally almost knocked me off my chair was the scale, the magnitude of this," said McNamara, an associate professor of physics and astronomy. <br /><br />Chandra observed the blast near a cD galaxy, which is the largest class of galaxies in the universe that live at the center of galaxy clusters. Also at the center: a supermassive black hole with a gravitational force that pulls in cosmic debris and interstellar gas. But the black holes also can release an enormous amount of energy back into the universe, McNamara said. Jets of radio emission shoot out of the hole in beams, depositing particles, magnetic fields and energy. <br /><br />Astronomers have been puzzled, however, about an apparent flaw in the galaxy life cycle: When interstellar gas eventually cools and matter accretes, the galaxy