NEW DELHI: Indian and German astronomers have jointly
discovered, completely by chance, a 1.5 million light year-long
intergalactic beam, the longest to be ever found. Nearly 600
million light years away, the jet is nearly twice the length of
the previous record holder. It also has an unusual
characteristic — it's a lone ranger. Usually, jets come as
similar looking pairs, pointing in opposite directions. Lead
astronomer Joydeep Bagchi from the radio astronomy and cosmology
department of Inter University Centre for Astronomy and
Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, has reported this finding in the
December 1 issue of 'Astrophysical Journal'. The discovery was
made with the help of three tremendously high resolution and
sensitive telescopes — Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT)
near Pune, the 100-metre Effelsberg radio dish in Germany and
the two-metre diameter optical telescope in IUCAA. GMRT is the
world's largest radio telescope. Bagchi told TOI that this jet
beam, that shot out from a large active galaxy called