Porphyrion’s 23-Million-Light-Year Jet Rewrites Galactic Scale
Astronomers using LOFAR have identified Porphyrion, a radio galaxy whose jets span about 23 million light-years (7 Mpc)—roughly 140 Milky Ways end-to-end—making it one of the largest known galactic-origin structures. The colossal jets suggest prolonged black-hole feeding over ~1 billion years and may influence the cosmic web’s temperature and magnetic fields, though newer discoveries like TXS 0033+252 have since surpassed its size, hinting that even bigger jets await detection.