An article published in the journal “Nature” reports a study on the blazar Markarian 501, or simply MRK 501, which offers an explanation for the jets of particles emitted at speeds close to the speed of light. A team of researchers used NASA’s IXPE space telescope to study Markarian 501 and concluded that shock waves within the jets were the most likely explanation.

Markarian 501 is a blazar, a type of active galactic nucleus that emits powerful jets of particles at speeds approaching the speed of light. When one of its jets is aimed at Earth, this type of object is called a blazar. These objects are powered by supermassive black holes surrounded by disks of materials.