Scientists have long been aware of the massive elliptical galaxy, M87. The galaxy was first observed in the late 18th century by Charles Messier, who cataloged objects in the sky specifically to avoid them when looking for comets. However, numerous later observations in the radio, X-ray, optical, UV, and gamma-ray bands revealed that the object is a galaxy with a prominent jet emerging from a supermassive black hole at its core. This jet is now well known for its synchrotron emission in the radio to optical wavelengths.

Although many observations have been made on M87, data had been somewhat lacking in the infrared spectrum. But now, a group of scientists have utilized new data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and its near infrared cameras (NIRCam) to resolve some previously fuzzy details about M87’s jet. The work is now published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The JWST+NIRCam images were taken in four infrared bands at 0.90, 1.50, 2.77, and 3.56 µm. In order to isolate the light coming from the actual jet, the team used background subtraction methods, calibration, and galaxy modeling to remove light from stars, galactic dust, background galaxies, and globular clusters. This revealed a detailed infrared picture of the main jet, as well as the counter-jet, which points in the opposite direction coming out from the black hole.

Gravitational-wave detection technology is poised to make a big leap forward thanks to an instrumentation advance led by physicist Jonathan Richardson of the University of California, Riverside. A paper detailing the invention, published in the journal Optica, reports the successful development and testing of FROSTI, a full-scale prototype for controlling laser wavefronts at extreme power levels inside the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO.

LIGO is an observatory that detects gravitational waves —ripples in spacetime caused by massive accelerating objects like merging black holes. It was the first to confirm their existence, supporting Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. LIGO uses two 4-km-long laser interferometers in Washington and Louisiana to capture these signals, opening a new window into the universe and deepening our understanding of black holes, cosmology, and extreme states of matter.

LIGO’s mirrors are among the most precise and carefully engineered components of the observatory. Each mirror is 34 cm in diameter and 20 cm thick and weighs about 40 kg. The mirrors must remain perfectly still to detect distortions in spacetime smaller than 1/1,000th the diameter of a proton. Even the smallest vibration or environmental disturbance can overwhelm the gravitational wave signal.