{"id":18021,"date":"2026-09-28T09:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T07:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deep-space-astronomy.ch\/?p=18021"},"modified":"2026-09-28T09:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T07:08:13","slug":"premier-microblazar-voie-lactee-trou-noir-stellaire-jet-terre-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deep-space-astronomy.ch\/en\/premier-microblazar-voie-lactee-trou-noir-stellaire-jet-terre-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"First Microblazar in the Milky Way: A Stellar Black Hole Aims Its Jet Toward Earth (September 2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In September 2026, an international team of astronomers announced the discovery of the first microblazar in our galaxy. IRAS 18293-0941, a system consisting of a black hole with a mass of about 10 solar masses and a massive star, produces a jet of matter that points almost directly toward Earth. And this jet, upon striking a molecular cloud 100 light-years away, accelerates particles to extreme energies\u2014petaelectronvolts, which is 100 times higher than the Large Hadron Collider. The discovery was published in *Astronomy & Astrophysics* on September 22, 2026.<\/p>\n

What is a blazar?<\/h2>\n

To understand what a microblazar is, you first need to understand what a blazar is.<\/p>\n

At the center of most large galaxies lies a supermassive black hole\u2014a monster with a mass ranging from millions to billions of solar masses. When matter falls into this black hole, it does not fall directly into it: it orbits around it, forming an accretion disk. Instead of falling into the black hole, some of this matter is ejected through both poles in the form of jets of matter and radiation. These jets travel at speeds close to the speed of light.<\/p>\n

When one of these jets is pointed toward Earth, the object appears much brighter than it actually is. This is called a blazar. Blazars are among the brightest and most distant objects in the universe. They are found in distant galaxies, billions of light-years away.<\/p>\n

A microblazar is the same thing, but in miniature. Instead of a supermassive black hole at the center of a distant galaxy, it\u2019s a stellar black hole\u2014a black hole formed by the collapse of a massive star, with a few solar masses\u2014in our own galaxy. The mechanism is the same: a black hole attracts matter, forms an accretion disk, and ejects jets. And one of these jets is pointing toward Earth.<\/p>\n

IRAS 18293-0941: The System<\/h2>\n

IRAS 18293-0941 is located about 12,000 light-years away from us, in the constellation Aquila. It is a binary system: two objects orbiting each other.<\/p>\n

The first is a massive, hot star. The second is a black hole with a mass of about 10 solar masses. The two objects orbit each other in 11.38 days\u2014that\u2019s a short orbital period. The star is so close to the black hole that the black hole is stripping material from it.<\/p>\n

This material torn from the star does not fall directly into the black hole. Instead, it orbits around it, forming an accretion disk. And just before falling into the black hole, some of this material is ejected through the black hole\u2019s two poles in the form of jets of matter and radiation. These jets travel at about three-quarters the speed of light.<\/p>\n

One of these jets points almost directly toward Earth. That is what makes it a microblazar.<\/p>\n

The Jet and the Molecular Cloud<\/h2>\n

The jet from IRAS 18293-0941 does not travel through a vacuum. It passes through the interstellar medium\u2014the gas and dust that fill the space between stars.<\/p>\n

Over the first 100 light-years of its path, the jet literally \u00abcleared\u00bb the interstellar medium. It pushed gas and dust ahead of it, creating a tunnel through the interstellar medium. This is what astronomers call a \u00abclearance cone.\u00bb.<\/p>\n

At the end of this tunnel, the jet strikes a molecular cloud\u2014a dense cloud of molecular gas and dust, consisting mainly of molecular hydrogen. The impact creates a bright spot in the cloud: the interstellar material is ionized and the dust is heated. It is this spot that astronomers have identified as the site of particle acceleration.<\/p>\n

The Fastest Particles in the Galaxy<\/h2>\n

The acceleration of particles to extreme energies is the key aspect of this discovery.<\/p>\n

Cosmic rays\u2014high-energy particles that constantly bombard the Earth\u2014were discovered more than a century ago. But for over 100 years, one question has remained unanswered: where are they accelerated to such high energies?<\/p>\n

Some cosmic rays reach energies on the order of a petaelectronvolt (PeV)\u2014one million billion electronvolts. By comparison, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, the most powerful particle accelerator ever built by humankind, reaches about 13 teraelectronvolts (TeV). One PeV is about 100 times more than the LHC.<\/p>\n

The study revealed that the bright spot in the molecular cloud coincides with a gamma-ray signature from high-energy particles. In other words, the microblazar\u2019s jet, upon striking the molecular cloud, accelerates particles to energies on the order of PeV. This makes IRAS 18293-0941 one of the most powerful particle accelerators in the Milky Way\u2014about 100 times more powerful than the LHC.<\/p>\n

A 30-Year-Old Prediction Confirmed<\/h2>\n

Microblazars had been predicted for about 30 years. Astronomers knew that stellar black holes could produce jets, and that some of these jets could be pointed toward Earth. But no system had been confirmed as a microblazar until now.<\/p>\n

IRAS 18293-0941 was cataloged in 1983 by the IRAS (Infrared Astronomical Satellite), a Dutch-American space telescope. Astronomers\u2019 attention had been drawn to the fact that, in numerous radio observations, the object exhibited a compact, bright core with radio emission from only one side\u2014an indication of the presence of a jet.<\/p>\n

A multi-wavelength observation campaign was then launched: radio telescopes for high-resolution images and jet interactions, optical telescopes for spectra and velocity measurements, X-ray and gamma-ray telescopes for the hot plasma around the black hole, and infrared images for the hot dust surrounding the system.<\/p>\n

\u00abThis discovery highlights the power of studying the universe with different types of telescopes at the same time, because none of the individual telescopes could have told the whole story,\u00bb says Jakob van den Eijnden, a co-author of the study at the University of Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

Why It's Important<\/h2>\n

This discovery has three major implications:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Origin of High-Energy Cosmic Rays<\/strong> : Microblazars could be one of the sources of the most energetic cosmic rays in the Milky Way. The collision between the jet and the interstellar medium is an effective acceleration mechanism.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. A Local Laboratory for Distant Blazars<\/strong> : Supermassive blazars in distant galaxies are too far away to be resolved in detail. Having a stellar analogue in our galaxy allows us to study the physics of blazars up close. As Benito Marcote, a researcher at ASTRON and co-author, says: \u00abDistant blazars are too far away to be resolved in our images. Having an analogous object in our galaxy allows for a detailed study of the physics of blazars.\u00bb<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. Star Formation in Molecular Clouds<\/strong> : When the jet strikes the molecular cloud, it could influence star formation within that cloud. Understanding how the jet heats and ionizes interstellar material has implications for galactic star formation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        And from Switzerland?<\/h2>\n

        IRAS 18293-0941 is located in the constellation Aquila, about 12,000 light-years away from us. Aquila reaches its highest point in the sky during the summer, but in October, the constellation is still visible in the south at the beginning of the night, low on the horizon.<\/p>\n

        But don't try to find IRAS 18293-0941 with a telescope: it is not an observable target. The system is shrouded in interstellar dust and is visible only in the radio and infrared wavelengths. The jets are not visible in optical light.<\/p>\n

        What this discovery tells us is that the Milky Way still holds surprises. A stellar black hole, 12,000 light-years away from us, accelerates particles to 100 times the energy of the LHC. And we\u2019ve only just discovered it, 43 years after the IRAS satellite first cataloged this object.<\/p>\n

        In a nutshell<\/h2>\n

        The first microblazar in the Milky Way was discovered in September 2026: IRAS 18293-0941, a binary system consisting of a black hole with a mass of 10 solar masses and a massive star with an orbital period of 11.38 days. The black hole\u2019s jet, pointing toward Earth, strikes a molecular cloud 100 light-years away and accelerates particles there to energies on the order of petaelectronvolts\u2014about 100 times greater than those at the LHC. The discovery, published in *Astronomy & Astrophysics*, confirms a 30-year-old prediction and makes this system one of the most powerful particle accelerators in our galaxy.<\/p>\n

        Sources : Phys.org \u2013 The Milky Way\u2019s First Microblazar (September 22, 2026)<\/a> ; Astronomy & Astrophysics \u2013 Josep Mart\u00ed et al. (2026)<\/a> ; arXiv \u2013 2609.00990<\/a> ; Space.com \u2013 Astronomers Discover First Microblazar (September 2026)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

        See also on Deep Space Astronomy: The Webb Telescope Finds Water and Dust Near the Milky Way\u2019s Central Black Hole<\/a> ; Season of Mutual Eclipses of Jupiter's Moons<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

        Signature: CBurkhalter<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        The first microblazar in the Milky Way was discovered in September 2026: IRAS 18293-0941, a stellar black hole with a mass of 10 solar masses, whose jet is pointing toward Earth. The jet strikes a molecular cloud 100 light-years away and accelerates particles there to 100 times the energy of the LHC. A 30-year-old prediction has been confirmed.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":18020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[827],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actualites"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deep-space-astronomy.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deep-space-astronomy.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deep-space-astronomy.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deep-space-astronomy.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/187"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deep-space-astronomy.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/deep-space-astronomy.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18022,"href":"https:\/\/deep-space-astronomy.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18021\/revisions\/18022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deep-space-astronomy.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deep-space-astronomy.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deep-space-astronomy.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deep-space-astronomy.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}