Brooke D. Simmons

For a long time, astrophysics was dominated by the belief that giant jets of radio emission, radio outbursts blasting from central regions, were the exclusive privilege of elliptical galaxies. It was thought that only their calm, featureless internal environment could allow such colossal fountains of energy, powered by supermassive black holes, to form.

In the young Universe, about ten billion years ago, galaxies resembled endless fields after a thunderstorm: everywhere, giant — thousands of light-years across — clumps of star formation were boiling up, where young stars were born with unbridled energy. Today, these patches are an almost vanished species: in nearby galaxies, raucous hotbeds are rare.