.jpg "Jetty McJetface Black Hole with Relativistic Jet and Stellar Debris")
What happens when a black hole can't quite finish its cosmic meal? Does it simply fade back into the darkness, or does something far stranger unfold across the years that follow?
Welcome back to FreeAstroScience.com, where we break down complex scientific principles into simple terms that stick with you long after you've closed your browser. We're here because the universe keeps surprising us, and this latest discovery might be one of the most mind-bending events astronomers have ever tracked. Stay with us through this article—by the end, you'll understand why a star-shredding black hole nicknamed "Jetty McJetface" is rewriting what we thought we knew about these cosmic giants.
Table of Contents
A Black Hole's Four-Year Cosmic Belch That Rivals the Most Powerful Events in the Universe
When Did This Ordinary Event Become Extraordinary?
Back in 2018, astronomers spotted something that seemed routine. A supermassive black hole, officially designated AT2018hyz, had captured and torn apart a passing star. We call these events tidal disruptions. They happen when a star wanders too close to a black hole's immense gravitational pull. Think of it like getting caught in a cosmic meat grinder—the star gets stretched and squeezed into long, thin shapes through a process physicist Stephen Hawking made famous: spaghettification.
At first, AT2018hyz looked like just another entry in the catalog. Nothing suggested this black hole, sitting 665 million light-years away from Earth, would become special. Astronomers documented the event and moved on. After all, these stellar deaths probably happen once every million years or so in any given galaxy.
But then something unexpected happened. Years after the initial destruction, the black hole started emitting substantial energy in the form of radio waves. This wasn't supposed to happen. Most tidal disruption events flare brightly at first, then fade. This one did the opposite. It waited. It built up strength. And then it unleashed something extraordinary. phys
Dr. Yvette Cendes, an astrophysicist at the University of Oregon, noticed the anomaly while studying the black hole's radio emissions. "This is really unusual," she said. "I'd be hard-pressed to think of anything rising like this over such a long period of time." The black hole came alive again in 2022, suddenly growing bright in radio waves. What we were seeing was synchrotron radiation from a jet—a focused beam of energy shooting out from the black hole's vicinity.
Cendes and her team gave this remarkable object a nickname that stuck: Jetty McJetface. The name might sound playful, but what this black hole is doing is anything but a joke.
What Do the Energy Numbers Actually Mean?
Let's talk about power. Real, measurable, physics-defying power.
The energy emissions from Jetty McJetface are now 50 times brighter than when astronomers originally detected them in 2019. We're not talking about a gradual increase. This is exponential growth that has continued for four years and shows no signs of stopping.
To help you grasp the scale, researchers compared it to something from science fiction: the Death Star from Star Wars. You know, that moon-sized space station that could blow up planets? The energy output from AT2018hyz is at least a trillion times greater than the fictional Death Star's superlaser. Read that again. A trillion times. And some calculations suggest the real number might be closer to 100 trillion times that figure.
If you're having trouble wrapping your head around those numbers, you're not alone. We are too. These are the kinds of energy levels that put this event on par with gamma-ray bursts—some of the most violent and energetic phenomena in the entire universe. Gamma-ray bursts typically come from collapsing massive stars or merging neutron stars. They're the universe's way of saying, "You think you know what power looks like? Watch this."
The Technical Side: How We Measure This Energy
Cendes is a radio astronomer, which means she measures the strong energy from this black hole in the form of radio waves. The region around the black hole also emits visible light, but it's very faint compared to the radio emissions. Her team uses data collected from big radio telescopes—specifically facilities in New Mexico and South Africa that can measure radiation from around the universe at very high sensitivities.
These aren't casual observations. They're precise measurements taken over years. The team tracked emissions from 0.8 to 240 GHz across multiple observations. What they found was a rise steeper than Fν ∝ t5 relative to the time of optical discovery. In simpler terms: this thing is getting brighter faster than almost any model predicted.
Why Did the Black Hole Wait Years to Burp?
Here's where things get really interesting. Why would a black hole consume a star in 2018, appear to go quiet, and then suddenly start spewing massive amounts of energy years later?
We don't have all the answers yet. That's what makes this discovery so compelling. But scientists have some theories.
One possibility involves geometry and perspective. The research shows that the spaghettified star's radiation is blasting away from the black hole in a single direction as a jet. If that jet wasn't initially pointed toward Earth, we wouldn't have seen it at first. As the jet expanded or changed orientation, it may have swung into our line of sight. Think of it like a lighthouse beam—you only see it when it sweeps across your position.
The other explanation is more complex. Dr. Cendes has made a groundbreaking discovery that challenges what we thought we knew about black hole behavior. She found that around 40% of black holes emit radio signals years after consuming stars, even though there's no initial emission detected. This was completely unexpected. Before her work, astronomers assumed that if you didn't see immediate radio emissions from a tidal disruption event, there weren't any to see. Case closed.
But Jetty McJetface proves that assumption was wrong. "If you have an explosion, why would you expect there to be something years after the explosion happened when you didn't see something before?" Cendes asked. It's a fair question. And yet, here we are.
The delayed emission might result from the jet expanding through a medium with a specific density—similar to the environment found in the center of our Milky Way. The jet itself is extraordinarily fast and energetic. These aren't simple burps of material. They're relativistic jets, meaning the material is moving at a significant fraction of the speed of light.
What Happens When Jetty McJetface Peaks in 2027?
Scientists have now collected enough data to make predictions. The stream of radio waves belching from the black hole will keep increasing exponentially before peaking sometime in 2027.
That's right—we're watching this in real-time, and we know there's more to come. The energy is still climbing. The brightness is still growing. And in about a year, we'll witness the peak of what might be one of the most powerful single events ever detected in the universe.
What will that peak look like? How bright will it get? Will the jet maintain its trajectory, or will it shift? These are questions that keep astronomers like Cendes pointing their telescopes at this patch of sky. The team won't know all the details for certain until the energy peaks. That's when they'll be able to confirm whether their models about the jet's direction and properties are correct.
The research was published this week in the Astrophysical Journal. It represents years of patient observation and data collection. Tracking something that changes over years requires dedication. You can't just check in once and call it done. You need consistent monitoring, precise measurements, and the kind of long-term thinking that doesn't always get funding in science.
Are There More Black Holes Like This Out There?
Jetty McJetface might not be alone. Cendes and her team are now hunting for other black holes that might exhibit similar behavior. The challenge is that no one has really looked for these delayed emissions systematically. Why would you? Before this discovery, there was no reason to think black holes could stay active for years after a tidal disruption event.
But now we know better. And that changes everything.
If 40% of black holes really do emit radio signals years after consuming stars, that means we've been missing a significant portion of the story. We've been looking at these events all wrong. It's like studying fireworks but only watching the first second of the explosion, then turning away before the grand finale.
The discovery opens new avenues for understanding how black holes process stellar material long after their initial cosmic meals. It challenges our models of accretion, jet formation, and energy emission. And it reminds us that the universe is far stranger and more dynamic than our theories sometimes suggest.
Think about it from a practical standpoint. Every tidal disruption event we've cataloged could potentially be sitting there, years away from producing its brightest emissions. We just haven't been watching long enough. Cendes's work suggests we need to change our observational strategies. We need patience. We need to keep watching these objects for years, not months.
There's also a broader implication here. Black holes aren't just passive vacuum cleaners, quietly consuming everything that gets too close. They're active participants in the cosmic ecosystem. They reshape their environments. They launch jets that can influence star formation in entire galaxies. And as Jetty McJetface demonstrates, they can continue affecting their surroundings long after we think the show is over.
Conclusion
Jetty McJetface has taught us something valuable: the universe doesn't follow our schedules. This black hole waited years to reveal its true power, challenging our assumptions about how these cosmic giants behave after consuming a star. With energy levels rivaling the most violent events in the universe and emissions still climbing toward a 2027 peak, we're witnessing a phenomenon that will reshape how astronomers study tidal disruption events. The fact that roughly 40% of black holes might exhibit similar delayed behavior means we've only scratched the surface of understanding these objects. Sometimes the most important discoveries come from simply watching and waiting, even when conventional wisdom says there's nothing left to see.
At FreeAstroScience.com, we believe in explaining complex scientific principles in ways that make sense to you. We're here because the sleep of reason breeds monsters—and the universe is far too fascinating to approach with a closed mind. We want you to keep thinking, keep questioning, and keep exploring. Come back soon for more discoveries that remind us just how remarkable our universe truly is. There's always more to learn, and we'll be here to help you understand it.
Sources
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Phys.org - "'Jetty McJetface': Star-shredding black hole may keep ramping up its radio jet until 2027 peak" (February 4, 2026) phys https://phys.org/news/2026-02-jetty-mcjetface-star-shredding-black.html
Ars Technica - "This black hole 'burps' with Death Star energy" (February 5, 2026) arstechnica https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/02/this-black-hole-burps-with-death-star-energy/
Space.com - "This supermassive black hole jet is more powerful than the Death Star's laser" (February 5, 2026) space https://www.space.com/astronomy/black-holes/this-supermassive-black-hole-jet-is-more-powerful-than-the-death-stars-laser
Live Science - "Star-killing black hole is one of the most energetic objects in the universe" (February 5, 2026) livescience https://www.livescience.com/space/black-holes/black-hole-outburst-jetty-mcjetface-is-one-of-the-most-energetic-objects
Reddit r/science - "'Jetty McJetface': A star-shredding black hole spewing more energy than the Death Star" (February 5, 2026) reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/1qwpap8/jetty_mcjetface_a_starshredding_black_hole/
arXiv - Research by Yvette Cendes on AT2018hyz arxiv http://arxiv.org/search/astro-ph?searchtype=author&query=Cendes%2C+Y
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