Astronomers have discovered the largest known black hole jets, stretching an astonishing 23 million light-years. To put it in perspective, that’s the length of 140 Milky Way galaxies aligned end-to-end.

An artist's illustration of the longest black hole jet system ever observed. Nicknamed Porphyrion after a mythological Greek giant, these jets span roughly 7 megaparsecs, or 23 million light- years. That is equivalent to lining up 140 Milky Way galaxies back-to-back. Credit: E. Wernquist / D. Nelson (IllustrisTNG Collaboration) / M. Oei

The largest-ever black hole jets ever seen hint that these cosmic monsters may play an even more significant role in shaping galaxies than previously thought.

Astronomers have spotted the biggest pair of black hole jets ever seen, spanning 23 million light-years in total length. That's equivalent to lining up 140 Milky Way galaxies back to back. Astronomers have spotted the biggest pair of black hole jets ever seen,

Two mighty beams of energy have been detected shooting in opposite directions from a supermassive black hole inside a distant galaxy - the largest such jets ever spotted, extending about 140 times the diameter of our vast Milky Way galaxy.

Now, researchers are getting a clearer picture of just how far outside of the galaxy their influence can reach. A new study describes the largest ever jets observed, extending across a total distance of 23 million light-years (seven megaparsecs).

Scientists have found the biggest pair of black hole jets ever seen. Such jets are vast blasts of radiation and particles that erupt out of supermassive black holes. Milky Way jets are the largest galaxy-made structures in the universe.