NASA X-ray telescope detects biggest ever space explosion: study

Astronomers observed the largest cosmic explosion ever, caused by a supermassive black hole in the Virgo Cluster. This event created a massive cavity in the surrounding gas, with jets accelerating electrons to near-light speed, producing radio waves. Initial observations by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in 2016 revealed unusual features, later confirmed by radio telescopes. The cavity is so vast that 15 Milky Way galaxies could fit inside, and light would take 1.5 million years to cross it.

Where did the biggest explosion in the cosmos occur?

• In the Ophiuchus Cluster

• In the Milky Way

• In the Andromeda Galaxy

• In the Orion Nebula

What did the supermassive black hole in the cluster's central galaxy do?

• It absorbed all surrounding matter

• It expelled matter and energy violently

• It created a new galaxy

• It stopped emitting radiation

What was the result of the black hole's activity?

• Creation of a vast cavity in the gas

• Destruction of the galaxy

• Formation of a new star

• Increase in galaxy's mass

Which observatory first noticed something unusual with the cluster's central galaxy?

• NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory

• Hubble Space Telescope

• James Webb Space Telescope

• Spitzer Space Telescope

How many Milky Way galaxies could fit inside the cavity created by the black hole?

• 5

• 10

• 15

• 20