Dormant Black Hole Erupts Like Cosmic Volcano After 100M Years

Imagine a cosmic engine the size of millions of suns waking up after sleeping longer than dinosaurs walked the Earth and erupting with the force of a million galaxies.

That's exactly what astronomers discovered when they spotted supermassive black hole J1007+3540 springing back to life after 100 million years of silence. Using radio telescopes in the Netherlands and India, scientists watched as the black hole blasted jets of superheated plasma outward, carving structures that stretch nearly a million light years across space.

"It's like watching a cosmic volcano erupt again after ages of calm, except this one is big enough to carve out structures stretching nearly a million light years across space," said team leader Shobha Kumari from Midnapore City College in India. The discovery reveals something amazing: black holes can take cosmic naps and wake up ready to party.

The images show a bright inner jet surrounded by a fainter outer cocoon of cooled plasma, like rings in a tree trunk telling the story of past eruptions. This layering proves the black hole has turned on and off repeatedly over millions of years, making it one of the clearest examples scientists have ever found of this stop-and-start behavior.

What makes this eruption even more spectacular is where it's happening. The black hole sits inside a massive galaxy cluster filled with incredibly hot gas, which squashes and bends the jets like pushing Play-Doh through your fingers. Scientists can see where the plasma got shoved sideways, creating compressed lobes to the north and a long wispy tail stretching to the southwest.

Why This Inspires

This discovery shows that even after 100 million years of quiet, cosmic giants can wake up and reshape space on an unimaginable scale. Scientists believe studying J1007+3540 will help them understand how all galaxies grow and change over billions of years, revealing the dynamic dance between these massive black holes and their surroundings.

The fact that we can witness these ancient cycles playing out across millions of light years reminds us that the universe is constantly creating new chapters in its story.