# How can black holes be sending out jets of energy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2022, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-black-holes-be-sending-out-jets-of-energy/960053 "2022-02-24T14:10:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2022, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-black-holes-be-sending-out-jets-of-energy/960053/1 "2022-02-24T14:10:07Z")
This story recounts how some astronomers have figured out that a pair of super-massive black holes are orbiting each other and will likely merge 10,000 years from now. > **[Colossal Black Holes Locked in an Epic Cosmic Dance at Heart of Galaxy](https://scitechdaily.com/colossal-black-holes-locked-in-an-epic-cosmic-dance-at-heart-of-galaxy/)** > > Astronomers find evidence for the tightest-knit supermassive black hole duo observed to date. Two supermassive black holes that are 9 billion light-years apart from one another seem to be circling one other every two years. The two enormous entities... But what I don’t get is that the story says that the black holes are sending out jets of high-powered energy, which helped thrcastroners figure out what was going on: > [@](#): > > In some quasars, the supermassive black hole creates a jet that shoots out at near the speed of light. The quasar observed in the new study, PKS 2131-021, belongs to a subclass of quasars called blazars in which the jet is pointing toward the Earth. I always thought that nothing escapes a black hole so how could they be sending out jets of energy? Please fight my ignorance. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-black-holes-be-sending-out-jets-of-energy/960053/2 "2022-02-24T14:20:29Z")
There is the black hole, from which nothing escapes(ish), then there is the hellish swirling cloud of distressed matter orbiting the black hole. That’s where the jets come from. Here’s what thrcastroners have to say: > **[The Recipe for Powerful Quasar Jets: Why Some Supermassive Black Holes Launch...](https://scitechdaily.com/the-recipe-for-powerful-quasar-jets-why-some-supermassive-black-holes-launch-powerful-beams/)** > > Some supermassive black holes launch powerful beams of material, or jets, away from them, while others do not. Astronomers may now have identified why. Using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, ESA’s XMM-Newton, Germany’s ROentgen SATellite... ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2022, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-black-holes-be-sending-out-jets-of-energy/960053/3 "2022-02-24T17:49:23Z")
Yeah. An isolated black hole wouldn’t emit anything (except for the extremely faint Hawking radiation) - but there probably aren’t any isolated black holes around. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2022, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-black-holes-be-sending-out-jets-of-energy/960053/4 "2022-02-24T18:42:44Z")
BTW, when I say “nothing escapes(ish)”, I mean: > **[Stephen Hawking Was Right: Black Holes Can Evaporate, Weird New Study Shows](https://www.livescience.com/65683-sonic-black-hole-spews-hawking-radiation.html)** > > Using supersonic gas and sound waves, researchers have shown that one of Stephen Hawking's theories about black holes was right all along. ---
**Author:** ![Cwturner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Cwturner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cwturner)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-black-holes-be-sending-out-jets-of-energy/960053/5 "2022-02-24T18:46:20Z")
@Darren_Garrison had me googling thrcastroners. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2022, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-black-holes-be-sending-out-jets-of-energy/960053/6 "2022-02-24T18:50:26Z")
I assume they are a dual class, Thaumaturge-Spellcaster. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2022, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-black-holes-be-sending-out-jets-of-energy/960053/7 "2022-02-24T18:52:46Z")
So, if I understand correctly, it’s not that the black hole is “sending out jets”, but in the extreme conditions surrounding a black hole, outside the event horizon, there can be gravitational effects which create high-energy jets? ---
**Author:** ![Saffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saffer/32/6440_2.png) [@Saffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saffer)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2022, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-black-holes-be-sending-out-jets-of-energy/960053/8 "2022-02-24T19:24:21Z")
Pretty much, except it is not just gravitational effects, there is some pretty wild magnetic stuff happening too. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2022, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-black-holes-be-sending-out-jets-of-energy/960053/9 "2022-02-24T20:16:58Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > So, if I understand correctly, it’s not that the black hole is “sending out jets”, but in the extreme conditions surrounding a black hole, outside the event horizon, there can be gravitational effects which create high-energy jets? > [@Saffer](#): > > Pretty much, except it is not just gravitational effects, there is some pretty wild magnetic stuff happening too. I think Saffer is right - without a strong magnetic field (created by compressing the magnetic field of a star, say, into a tiny location), you don’t get the jets. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2022, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-black-holes-be-sending-out-jets-of-energy/960053/10 "2022-02-24T20:43:56Z")
a good neighbourhood to avoid, then.