These jets become elusive the farther back in time astronomers try to look because of the so-called cosmic microwave background. The ancient radiation, the earliest fossil of light from 380,000 years after the Big Bang, tends to swamp out more subtle signals.

By revealing a massive radio jet in the early universe, J1601+3102 offers a rare snapshot of early quasar activity.

From decades of astronomical observations, scientists know that most galaxies contain massive black holes at their centers. The gas and dust falling into these black holes liberates an enormous amount of energy as a result of friction,

Astronomers have discovered a truly ancient monster: a radio jet 200,000 light-years wide, originating from when the universe was less than 10% of its current age. Observed using the Gemini North and Hubble telescopes,

Telescopes around the world have spotted a monster radio jet streaming from a quasar dating back to the first 1 billion years of the universe

The giant jet flips the script on the origins of these structures, which were once thought to be linked only to extremely large black holes.

At double the width of our Milky Way galaxy, this jet of radio waves is the biggest ever detected so early in the universe's history, astronomers reported Thursday.