National Radio Astronomy Observatory P.O. Box O Socorro, NM
87801 EMBARGOED For Release: 9:20 a.m, PST, Wednesday, January
12, 2005 Dave Finley, NRAO Dana Rakoczy, Whittier College
Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Very Long
Baseline Array (VLBA) have discovered jets of plasma blasted
from the cores of distant galaxies at speeds within one-tenth of
one percent of the speed of light, placing these plasma jets
among the fastest objects yet seen in the Universe. "This tells
us that the physical processes at the cores of these galaxies,
called blazars, are extremely energetic and are capable of
propelling matter very close to the absolute cosmic speed
limit," said Glenn Piner of Whittier College in Whittier,
California. Piner, who worked on the project with student Dipesh
Bhattari, also of Whittier College, Philip Edwards of the Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Dayton Jones of NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, presented their findings to the American
Astronomical Society's meeting in San