Nature 476, 421–424 (2011)

Nature 476, 425–428 (2011)

It's called Swift J164449.3+573451, and is a lot more exciting than it sounds. In March this year, NASA's Swift satellite picked up this transient source of radiation, which has since been recognized to coincide with the position of a galaxy, at a redshift of 0.354. Follow-up observations at γ-ray, X-ray, ultraviolet, optical and near-infrared wavelengths (D. N. Burrows et al.) and at radio wavelengths (B. A. Zauderer et al.) have revealed a suggestive pattern of brightening: Swift J164449.3+573451 is the result of the unleashing of a relativistic jet from a supermassive black hole at the galaxy centre.

It's an amazing moment to have captured. Moreover, the data suggest that the turn-on of the jet is probably the consequence of a transient period of accretion onto the million-solar-mass black hole — that is, the tidal disruption of a star unfortunate enough to wander too close.