A black hole eruption marks the most powerful explosion ever spotted
The outburst was five times as energetic as the last record holder
Radio waves (blue in this composite image) trickle out of a cavity in hot X-ray emitting gas (purple) enveloping a massive galaxy (white, top). The radio waves likely come from high-speed electrons accelerated by an eruption long ago from a gargantuan black hole at the galaxy’s center.
X-ray: S. Giacintucci et al/NRL, CXC/NASA, XMM-Newton/ESA; Radio: GMRT, TIFR, NCRA; Infrared: 2MASS/UMass, IPAC-Caltech/NASA, NSF