Cosmic Scale
Porphyrion
Largest known black-hole jets · 7.5 billion light-years
How big is Porphyrion?
Porphyrion is about 23 million light-years across.
See Porphyrion in 3D, at true scale
Porphyrion is a pair of jets from a supermassive black hole that stretch 23 million light-years end to end — the largest black-hole jets ever seen, found in 2024 with the LOFAR radio telescope.
At a glance
| Diameter | 23 million light-years |
|---|---|
| Diameter compared with Earth | 1.7 × 10¹⁶ × Earth |
| Distance | About 7.5 billion light-years |
| Span | 23 million light-years |
| Found | 2024, LOFAR |
| Named after | A giant of Greek myth |
Good to know
- The jets would reach across 140 Milky Ways lined up end to end.
- They were blasted out when the universe was about 6 billion years old.
- Jets like this may have spread magnetism through the space between galaxies.
- Next smaller: Coma Cluster · 20 million light-years
- Next larger: Virgo Supercluster · 110 million light-years