In December 2007, NASA announced the discovery of a violent event ongoing in the Universe that was never seen before. For the first time, astronomers observed a galaxy smiting another galaxy with a blast of energy emanating from the vicinity of a Supermassive black hole at the center of one of these two galaxies. This event took place in a system called 3C321, which lies 1.4 billion light years away from us in the constellation Serpens. It contains two galaxies in orbit around one another which are in the process of merging.
Data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory shows both galaxies have a Supermassive black hole at its center. The larger galaxy dubbed- “the death star galaxy” has been emanating jet from the vicinity of its Supermassive black hole at its center. The smaller galaxy which is in orbit around “the death star galaxy” is 20,000 light years away from it. For instance, the distance of Earth from the centre of Milky Way is about 27,200 light years. The jet emanating from the large galaxy does not terminate after hitting the smaller galaxy but deflects away after the hit and extends beyond up to 1.7 million light years.
Jets from the Supermassive black hole produce high amounts of radiation, especially X-rays and Gamma rays. This can damage the atmospheres of planets lying in the path of the jet. It is possible the radiation and energy from the jet could induce the formation of stars and planets in the galaxy after its initial wake of destruction is complete. The Death Star galaxy was discovered using the combined efforts of both the space and ground based telescopes that include NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope. The Very Large Array and The Multi Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network in UK were also the part of efforts.